Newsworthy
by rexlover180
Summary: Mutants are everywhere; some humans choose to hate them while others choose to accept them. Some mutants step out of the shadow and try to become greater, that is what creates a superhero. Energy, otherwise known as Gilbert Beilschmidt, stepped out of the shadow and now must suffer the consequences of such an action. No one he loves will be safe. PruCan.
1. Prologue

What is good and evil? Who decides that in the first place? Sure, it's bad to break the law, but is it really good to obey it? Everyday heroes are good, everyone knows that. But have you ever heard of an everyday villain? Sure, there are the people that try to shoot out theaters and steal from people, but do they think they're evil? Do they view themselves as villains? Your mom and dad can tell you what good and bad is all they want, but it's really up for you to decide. You can decide to go along with the rest of the world and take their image, or be original and create your own version of it all. That's why we have vigilantes.

Some people say that superheroes don't exist. Everyone knows that, if you were to play around with the human gene just slightly, you get a mutant, someone that has superhuman abilities. They exist and they're everywhere, but they believe in the same good and evil that the rest of society does, so they stay hidden and go with the flow of the world. There are some here and there that will step up and decide their own good and evil, ignore the humans that think they're freaks and try to shun them, but they don't normally last long. The world swallows them up in no time to force their ideals on this newcomer.

Society decided some time ago that mutants are evil, something to be feared and hated. Something to be exterminated. There are these companies, no one really knows which companies really do this since they hide it so well, that experiment. They find ways to get rid of mutants and do just that. To keep their sense of good going strong in this world. According to them, mutants are no longer people and you're allowed to experiment on them as you please, as you would a lab rat. Anything to make sure that they can have a mutant-free future.

This brings us to a particularly interesting case, centered around a young hero by the name of Energy in New York City. He knew his sense of good and evil and decidedly ignored that of the rest of society. Some screamed at the fact that he was a mutant, some cheered for his good deeds, either way he was attracting attention, something that would only cause harm to those that he cared for.

* * *

A figure stumbled through the window, clamoring onto the floor, where he felt like falling asleep, in all honesty. He stood up slowly and shakily, quite a few bruises causing him to finch on many occasions. Maybe he'd need to stitch himself up again sometime soon. He only managed to make it halfway out of his outfit before he got to his large bed and unceremoniously flopped face first onto it with a groan. He barely closed his eyes before he fell into a deep sleep filled with women and beer. No one ever said this hero's sense of good or evil.

It had only felt like the figure's eyes were closed for a few seconds before he was being shaken awake, his room bright with the light of morning flooding through his windows that took up an entire wall of his room.

"Gilbert, so help me, if you miss another day of school, people will start suspecting and you will get a detention," his brother scolded him harshly and the figure, Gilbert, blearily looked up at him with beady red eyes. At least…one of them was red. His other contact that hid his rather obvious eye color had fallen off somewhere in his sleep. His black wig was only half on his head, despite the pins everywhere, letting snow white hair slip from underneath it.

"Don't tell mom," Gilbert said cheekily.

"What was it last night?" his brother asked impatiently. His name was Ludwig, though Gilbert had a habit of forming nicknames and hardly called him that. He was tall, well built for sports, had well-kept blonde hair and slightly unruly blue eyes. As well built as he was, Gilbert was that and then some thanks to his "extracurricular" activities. He was smaller than his younger brother, but he tried not to let that bother him much.

"Uh…" Gilbert thought for a moment, attempting to remember the details in his sleep fogged mind. "Prostitute dealer."

"Get ready for school," Ludwig demanded.

"Don't get pissed," Gilbert mumbled. "I accepted a kiss from one of them."

"I won't repeat myself," Ludwig said. "Breakfast is waiting for you in the dining room." He started walking towards the door all the way on the other side of Gilbert's room and Gilbert pouted.

"Which one?" Gilbert remarked with a smirk.

"The one closest to the door, since that's what seems to get you out of the house faster," Ludwig sighed. "Your bag is where you left it, untouched, by the front door."

"It was a damn good kiss," Gilbert remarked. "I think I dreamt about it. Wait, let me check." He swiftly sat up and made a show of looking into his pants. "Yeah, I had a dream about that kiss."

"I will see you at school," Ludwig said and slammed the door shut. Gilbert winced slightly but laughed and fell back onto his bed. These mornings never got easier after he went on his late night escapades.

By day, he was an above average Joe that went to high school. His parents were rich, resulting in a huge house, by they were also never home, leaving him alone with Ludwig and whoever his parents had hired to clean the house. If his parents had ever gone home, they would have been sure to notice Gilbert's double life. Ludwig easily found out and Gilbert was pretty sure some of the house workers as well, though they were paid well enough to not say anything.

By night, however, Gilbert was the awesome superhero Energy (he didn't name himself, the news did. If he named himself, he would have had some cool name like Awesome Man or something) that had been on the scene of New York City for about a year. He was the first mutant in the city to take up the job in 10 years and the city seemed happy enough to have him. Of course, there were the people that couldn't get over their hatred for the "freaks" but Gilbert didn't mind, in all honesty.

He had learned that he had powers in elementary school and his parents had no idea, since Ludwig made sure he was so in check all of the time. It started with simple super strength, but then in middle school he figured out that he could make these awesome energy constructs. Boxes and stairs and anything he could think of, made of pure energy. Then, when he started high school, he was lucky enough to have x-ray vision. Sort of. It was off and on a lot of the time, but when he could use it, he had quite a blast. PE quickly became his favorite class.

He decided to be a hero on a whim, in all honesty. The news picked up stories quick when he was just beginning and he loved the attention, so he came up with a costume and a way to hide his very obvious features and started as a superhero. He loved it, not just for the attention, naturally. He loved helping people in need, like the lady that was nearly mugged, or the kids that were kidnapped that the police couldn't get to, or the bank that was almost robbed. The good part about all of this was that, so far, there hadn't been a mutant that was willing to come out of the shadows to fight Gilbert. There was no super villain, just average people breaking the law.

His life as Energy was going pretty well. His life as Gilbert Beilschmidt, however, was a little bumpier. He had all-nighters all the time and hardly did his homework. And he could hardly focus in school, thinking about what he would be doing the next day. His friends called him distracted and some teachers had started a rumor that he had ADD or something and he just rolled with it. As long as no one suspected anything, he was good. Gilbert and Energy had to remain two different people in the minds of everyone but himself and Ludwig.

Gilbert sluggishly got out of bed that day, stripped from his costume, and got dressed in the stupid school uniform that they had. He always broke the rules a little bit by wearing his own jacket instead of the stupid one they insisted everyone wore. He also never wore the tie…mostly because he couldn't figure it out, but that wasn't important. He quickly headed out of his house, skipping breakfast in favor of being able to make it to school on time. If he didn't, Ludwig would scold him for about an hour before Energy could go out on patrol.

* * *

Meanwhile, another boy by the name of Matthew stood in front of the door to his own brother's room. Alfred always slept late, but Matthew couldn't allow that on this day of all days, their first one at this new private school in New York City that their parents paid for before…well, they didn't talk about that. Matthew was already put together for the day, even having eaten a good breakfast, but Alfred probably hadn't moved an inch from his bed. So, Matthew slammed open the door, pans securely in either hand.

"Alfred," Matthew sighed, flipping no the lights in the dismal room. They hadn't been there for more than a few days and Alfred had already managed to make it look like a hurricane hit the room. Matthew's twin grumbled from under the covers, his blonde hair just barley poking out from his comforter. "Three seconds and I'm not showing you any mercy, got it?" There was a little grunt in response. "Three." Alfred had yet to move. Matthew almost wished that he had brought cold water this time instead of pans. There was always tomorrow. "Two." Alfred rustled slightly in his sheets, but didn't make a move to get up. Matthew smirked. "One."

Immediately, he started to clank the pans together as loudly as he could muster, right above Alfred's head, and the other teenager started out of his bed, yelling out slightly.

"Dammit, dude!" Alfred groaned. "Why you gotta hate?"

"First day of school, get ready," Matthew sighed, arms crossed over his chest, though the pans made it look a little odd.

"And if I don't?" Alfred asked.

"I could easily put your head between these pans," Matthew threatened. "Or…I could always get my hockey stick…"

"Alright, alright, I'm up," Alfred grumbled, swiftly standing up from his bed and stretching. He was only clothed in boxers, but Matthew was used to worse. The only obvious differences between the twins was the fact that Matthew had his hair a little longer, Alfred had blue eyes versus Matthew's indigo, and Alfred was more muscular while Matthew was lean. They both wore glasses, they were the same height, they were both smart (though Alfred hid it very well), and they both enjoyed sports. One was loud, the other was quiet, one liked football, the other liked hockey, they seemed fairly different in personality, but they got along quite well.

"Good," Matthew nodded. "I'll be waiting for you at the front door. Then we can catch the bus."

"What? No time to eat?" Alfred grumbled.

"Maybe next time you'll set your alarm and actually get up before we're supposed to leave," Matthew smirked, turning on his heel to leave the room and enter the living room of their small apartment. Just across the room was his own bedroom. To the right was their small deck that they were very thankful to have, and to the left was the kitchen, then the door. Matthew didn't bother to close Alfred's door before he went to turn off the television, which he'd been watching while eating breakfast.

He took a little interest in the news that was on as they broadcasted a story, the caption of _Superhero's At It Again_ catching Matthew's eye. He had heard that a mutant had come out of the shadows in the city to be a hero, but he hadn't seen anything about him. It was taken the night before and the camera work was shoddy at best, but it let Matthew see the hero well enough. He had black hair that nearly blended in with the night and bright blue eyes that stuck out from his black mask, but it looked like there was something a little…off about them. Thankfully, he wasn't wearing spandex like the stereotype suggested. The outfit was black and red, the same color as the energy constructs that he could apparently make out of nowhere. There was a tight, black, long-sleeved shirt that looked kind of like Under Armor, but he had an interesting E logo on it that was no doubt because of his name. He wore red gloves that apparently had good grip on them and his shoes, which were almost like boots, were the same red. Naturally, his eyes were surrounded by a red mask that really made it too easy for the government to find out who he was, but they obviously didn't care too much about finding him. It almost looked like he was wearing skinny jeans, too, but Matthew supposed not. It looked like the outfit was handmade, but the hero, who looked no older than a teenager, probably couldn't sew worth a damn.

"That's so freaking cool, dude!" Alfred gushed behind Matthew, who rolled his eyes and turned off the TV. "We get our own superhero! I gotta meet him, Mattie!"

"Just get yourself in a life-or-death situation and I'm sure he'll help you out," Matthew chuckled. "Come on, I don't want to be late today."

"I think I got that from the pans," Alfred grumbled. Matthew just laughed and set the pans on the counter before they left their little apartment to walk on the streets of New York City.

It could be fate that they were going to the same school as Gilbert Beilschmidt. It could just be coincidence, but people don't normally believe in such a thing. What neither Gilbert nor Matthew knew was that someone was watching, as they always were. They were waiting for Energy to slip up, anticipating the moment where they could try to rid themselves of at least one more mutant.

And they would wait and watch for as long as it took for that to happen.

* * *

**So, originally, this story was going to be a murder mystery where it turned out that Matthew was the killer in the end, but then I realized that was cliché and went for something else that I got the idea for, which would be something else completely cliché and that is a superhero fic. I'm very excited, though and I'm proud of myself for actually planning everything out in a realistic way for once, so hopefully this fic will go smoothly. But we'll find out as we go along.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the prologue, not a lot happened, but we got introduced to our two main characters and got some background, so that's always nice!**

**Pairings for this story will be PruCan and RusAme, with references to things like GerIta and AusHun. And FrUK may or may not be a thing. I'm going to let that happen naturally and see what happens, if they turn out together, it just happens. **

**Anyway, please review! Tell me what you think so far, it's very nice! My plan for updating will be pretty much what happened with my last chapter fic, which is basically, I don't update until the weekend, but I update two or three times over the weekend.**

**And I do not own Hetalia and I'm pretty sure I never will.**


	2. One Out Of Four

"I heard that one out of every four people is a mutant!"

"Where the hell did you hear that?"

"Well, I found this website-"

"Feli, seriously?"

"I would prefer not to think that something as strange as a mutant can be in a group of four. What? There are roughly seven here right now, that would mean about two of us would be a mutant. I don't like thinking that there are so many freaks crawling around."

"Well, I don't think they're so bad. If there were more like Energy running around, this world would be a better place."

"Or a worse place."

"Don't even get me started on Energy. Besides, with good mutants, there are bad mutants. I don't need super villains running around."

"Hey, Gil, are those the new kids that are going to be in our homeroom?"

The entire conversation stopped for the group to look over at two boys that were being escorted by a teacher through the halls. They were obviously twins, by the looks of them, but judging by the way they carried themselves, their personalities were fairly different. Gilbert was honestly thankful for the change in subject. Whenever his friends got on the topic of mutants, it generally wasn't flattery. It was no wonder he hadn't told anyone but his own brother his secret. His circle of friends wasn't exactly huge (a bit of a disappointment, considering how awesome he was) and even included his own brother.

There was Francis, a bit of a prick that worried about if his hair looked alright half of the time and flirted with girls and boys alike the other half. Then Antonio, who was always extremely nice, no matter what anyone said to him, but a little bit of a dunce. Those two were Gilbert's best friends, but he hadn't told them his secret because…well…Francis hated mutants. Then there were the Italian twins. Feliciano, who was younger, was always sweet and bubbly and happy and pretty much believed anything you said to him. Lovino was pretty much his exact opposite, generally angry at anything and everything and loved to curse, especially at Ludwig and Gilbert. And then Arthur, a stubborn as hell Brit with the biggest eyebrows you will ever see. No one really knew why he hung out with them, considering the fact that he frequently said how stupid they all were. Ludwig was also a part of the group, though mostly because he was dragged in by Feliciano and Gilbert. They all attended the fabulous Hetalia Academy, a school for the children of the rich, but it had this air of public school in order to give them a sense of "normalcy" and "to understand the rest of the world better."

"They are not bad looking, I must say," Francis noted and Gilbert rolled his eyes. Sure, they weren't bad looking, but there was really nothing interesting about them. They looked extremely similar, especially from this distance. The only thing they really had going for them was the fact that they were twins. "Especially the taller, more athletic one. I bet his ass is fantastic."

"No, no," Antonio shook his head. "The other one looks more innocent, that would be for a better time, in my opinion at least."

"Are you guys seriously talking about this?" Gilbert scoffed and Francis immediately stood up to look at the twins as they walked further down the hall.

"I was definitely right about that ass," Francis noted.

"Is there anything else that fascinates you other than someone's ass?" Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Well, I was rather interested in the rest of your body last year when you went through your 'rebellious' phase," Francis laughed as Arthur turned a bright shade of red. Gilbert cackled and Lovino even snickered with them. Last year, Arthur had decided he was tired of going in the direction his brothers wanted him to go, which involved taking over their company. That was when he was fun, he broke all kinds of rules, managed to find a shit ton of drugs on a daily basis, and dared teachers to get him in trouble. There was the fact that the Kirkland company basically funded the majority of the school, so that put Arthur in a…special situation. He could do anything he wanted, and the only time he took advantage of it was when he went punk. Now he was back to stuffy, sweater vest-wearing Arthur that kept his head down.

"I thought that the phase was kind of…cute," Feliciano shrugged. "It's like discovering yourself, right?"

"I will never do that sort of thing again," Arthur sighed. "Lord knows the damage done to my liver from all the alcohol and my brain from everything else."

"We should get to class," Ludwig sighed just as the bell rang.

"Perfect timing as always, West," Gilbert laughed. "C'mon Feli, we have newbies to welcome in homeroom!"

"Gilbert," Ludwig stopped him shortly after everyone but Feliciano dispersed. He looked him dead in the eyes, serious as always. "Do not leave school early again, for whatever excuse you come up with."

"And if it's necessary?" Gilbert raised an eyebrow.

"Know what the police can handle on their own," Ludwig said quietly to ensure Feliciano couldn't hear him.

"Sir, yes, sir," Gilbert saluted him before running into the crowd with Feliciano, going right to homeroom.

* * *

Being the new kid always sucked. Especially a few weeks into the school year. People had already met up with their old friends and they generally didn't accept new people into their little cliques. Not that Matthew wanted to be in a clique or anything, it was just nice to be included sometimes. Alfred, with his charisma and charm would be able to make it into any sort of clique he wanted, even the gamers. Granted he did have a few problems talking with girls (a secret he only told Matthew), but he was still charming to every girl that ever saw him. Matthew even saw a few girls fix up their make-up and hair hurriedly as they passed them earlier that morning.

Now, however, the principal of the school had dumped them in their homeroom, where their teacher there would take over for him. Clutching his schedule for the day tightly in his hand, Matthew followed his brother through the rows of desks until they slumped down in seats beside each other. Matthew was sitting right below a vent, but he didn't really mind. He was nervous. Definitely nervous.

"So you two are the newbies," chimed a harsh voice as a pair of hands were practically slammed on the desk in front of Matthew. He jumped and saw that the boy in front of him had the oddest features. A snow white head of hair, beady red eyes, an incredibly pale complexion. He was albino, that definitely wasn't something one saw every day.

"And who the hell are you, welcoming committee?" Alfred scoffed back at him and Matthew shied to the back of his chair. Just by a glance, he could tell that these two personalities clashing could either turn out to be very, very good or very, very bad, it just depending on how they met. And this wasn't turning out very well so far.

"I don't think that's the best way to talk to the first person you meet at school," the albino scoffed.

"Gilbert," a smaller boy with auburn hair and the strangest curl pulled on his sleeve and Gilbert groaned, looking back at him. It just occurred to Matthew that Gilbert was breaking a lot of the school rules with his uniform, not even wearing a blazer but a jacket of his own liking. Matthew figured it must have something to do with his parents and how rich they were. Matthew and Alfred's parents weren't rich at all, so they would have to be careful about which rules they broke in a place like this. "Weren't we supposed to make friends with them?"

"Yeah, whatever," Gilbert removing his hands from the table to cross his arms over his chest. "I am the awesome Gilbert, at your service, and this is Feli. You two?"

"I shouldn't have to answer to you," Alfred said crossly.

Matthew took a deep breath, mustering up all of his courage and hoping his voice would come out loud enough, just this once. Alfred may be bad with talking to girls, but Matthew was bad with talking to pretty much everyone. "I'm Matthew, this is Alfred."

"Didn't say you had to," Gilbert snorted at Alfred before looking back at Matthew with a smirk. "So, Matt, what brings you guys here at this time of year? How come you didn't come sooner?"

"Oh, um…" Matthew mumbled, looking at the desk. Those beady red eyes pounding down on him were definitely making him nervous. "O-our parents put all of their belongings into a will…saying that all the money they had…w-would go to our schooling. Th-they wanted us to go here. It just…t-took a while to get everything settled."

"You should really learn to speak up," Gilbert said. "You've got a nice voice, when you're not stuttering."

"Well, ciao!" Feli said happily, gripping onto Matthew's hand and shaking it happily. "I'd be happy to be the first real friend you have here!" He quickly darted over to shake Alfred's hand and Alfred laughed, shaking it with him.

"Don't worry about this place," Gilbert smirked. "We may all be rich kids, but not all of us act like it."

"Right…" Matthew mumbled as the teacher collected everyone's attention and people grudgingly went to their seats. The new students were introduced and the other students were all told to at least introduce themselves to the two before the period ended.

Matthew didn't bother to remember a lot of the people, mainly because they didn't bother to remember him. Alfred had a merry time getting along with people and already managed to get some girl's number, despite being completely flustered the entire time, but she didn't sense it. There was this guy named Mathias, who was just about as loud as Alfred and Gilbert, but Alfred actually got along with this one, and then the bell rang. That left only one other person to be introduced, but he still stood at the back of the class.

At first, Matthew was a little scared of the boy. He towered over everyone there, including Alfred, and wore a thick scarf over his uniform, despite it being near the end of summer. He had white hair similar to Gilbert as well as violet eyes that sent chills down Matthew's spine. He looked a little cold, but also slightly troubled, if Matthew was honest. Matthew started walking to the door with Alfred and Mathias and the tall boy followed after them. Matthew heard the boy suck in a deep breath before he placed a heavy hand on Matthew's shoulder, making the smaller jump slightly.

"Hello!" the boy said cheerfully, a smile that looked a little fake plastered onto his face. "My name is Ivan? And you?" His accent was thick, definitely Russian. Matthew was honestly a little startled at how suddenly he started a conversation. He was about to reply when Alfred gripped tightly onto his arm, pulling him away slightly.

"He's Russian," Alfred hissed into his ear. "Get out while you can!"

"Alfred!" Matthew sighed, shoving his brother off of him. "That's rude."

"It's true!" Alfred said resolutely, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Dude's right," Mathias chimed behind him. "He's crazy."

Matthew took a deep breath and looked back at the boy, who had already begun to walk away, a slightly dark expression on his face. For the second time that day, Matthew mustered all of his courage and ran after the boy, despite having no clue where his next class was.

"Ivan, wait!" Matthew called after him and the boy somehow heard him over the large crowd and stopped, a very…surprised look on his face. "I'm sorry about my brother….he can be a…jerk sometimes."

"It is fine, do not worry, da?" Ivan smiled at him, this time a lot less fake.

"Um, my name is Matthew," he introduced himself and stuck out a hand. He noticed that Ivan's hands were gloved and the boy looked hesitant to shake his hand, but did so anyway, his hand practically taking over all of Matthew's. "I-If you wouldn't mind, would you show me to my next class?"

"I do not mind at all," Ivan smiled and Matthew gave him his schedule, which was now thoroughly crumpled due to Matthew's nervousness. "You have math. I can show you, my class is in the same direction."

"Thank you very much," Matthew let out a deep breath and followed the large boy through the hallway. He noticed that quite a few people went out of their way to avoid him and Matthew was curious as to why. Sure, he looked a little creepy and he was definitely overly nervous first talking to him, but he was harmless. "So, uh, Ivan…what do you like to do for…uh…fun?"

"I like to play hockey," Ivan said simply and Matthew smiled. Ivan wouldn't be a bad first friend at all. He wasn't quite sure if he could count Feli or Gilbert, considering they had talked for maybe a minute at most.

"I play hockey, too," Matthew said happily. "At least…I used to. At my old school. Do you know if this school has a team?"

"Da," Ivan nodded. "I am captain. You seem a little small to play hockey."

"Just wait until I get on the ice," Matthew laughed.

"Holy shit!" came a shout behind them and Matthew jumped. Before he knew what was happening, he was shoved, roughly, away from Ivan and down the hall, before he was pushed into a room, the door slammed closed behind him. "Man, totally saved you back there!"

"What?" Matthew mumbled, catching his breath after the shock. It was Gilbert, standing proudly in front of the door.

"Ivan's crazy, dude!" Gilbert laughed. "You're just lucky I was awesome and saved you from that maniac."

"Ivan's not a…" Matthew shook his head. He definitely didn't need courage for this. He was slightly ashamed to say it, but sometimes his anger got the best of him (ask Alfred about the last time he messed up Matthew's pancakes) and he somehow managed to throw caution to the wind. "Why does everyone seem to think he's creepy or crazy? I was having a nice conversation with him! Who are you even to say that he's a creep? I bet you've known him for two seconds! And you made me lose my schedule, it'll be up to you to get me a new one, since you're so scared of Ivan that you probably won't even go near him to get it back!"

Gilbert blinked at him. "Okay, one, holy shit that was awesome, I didn't think you had that in you," Gilbert laughed. "Two, Ivan's fucking crazy, ask anyone. Three, I'm not scared of him, I can fucking handle that creep."

"Oh, maple," Matthew grumbled under his breath, holding onto his head. He had really hoped he could have another class with Alfred. He may steal the spotlight a lot, but he was still a good brother that was always around, at least slightly boosting his confidence. Suddenly, Gilbert's phone buzzed and he held up a finger, pulling it out to examine it intently.

"Holy shit," Gilbert's eyes went wide and he glanced around slightly before he began to shake.

"What's wrong?" Matthew asked curiously and a few other teenagers got alerts on their phones. Matthew didn't have a smart phone like them, his phone didn't even have internet, he was left in the dark.

"Uh…" Gilbert mumbled, sweat beading down his forehead.

"Oh, my God!" a girl screeched from further in the room. "Did you hear about the store being held hostage?"

"According to this website, the police, like, can't even get in!"

"I think I'm gonna puke," Gilbert mumbled, his face turning white. Matthew barely stumbled out of his way before Gilbert ran from the room. He could already hear the hurling sound.

"There he goes again," a boy who was lounging on a desk said. Matthew was a little startled by how…sexy he was? Was sexy the right word for it? Even in the same outfit as everyone, he managed to stand out quite a lot with waving long blonde hair, slight stubble, and bright blue eyes. "Mon ami tries to act tough all the time but he's a big softie at the face of danger. And who are you, mon cher? Êtes-vous nouveaux? Ah, désolé, you do not speak French."

"I am new, it's fine," Matthew mumbled. That was one thing he could do, speak French. He'd lived in Canada for a few years, of course he knew French. Alfred…not so much, but he was Alfred. The boy seemed a little surprised before he grew a wicked smirk. He said something in French that Matthew dared not repeat, something that would most likely get him detention for quite some time, but Matthew chose to ignore it as he sat down as far away from the Frenchman as possible.

* * *

"_It is quite odd how quickly he manages to get onto the scene."_

"_That must mean he has some sort of device that allows him to know the news constantly. If we could narrow our search down to people with smart phones or technology, finding Energy would be a lot easier!"_

"_We cannot just assume that the freak has anything. He may just be lucky, or he may just be homeless, walking around the streets and waiting."_

"_Just look at the clothing! That's an expensive brand."_

"_I wouldn't put it past a mutant to steal what it wants. Especially not this one."_

"_Fine. What do you suggest we tell him?"_

"_Ah, the boss…I don't know. That is all we can tell him. We'll find him eventually, but we can't simply capture him as a hero. We have to capture him as he pretends to be human."_

"_It makes my skin crawl to think that I could pass by that mutant every day. We really need to get them off the streets."_

* * *

**So I start and end this chapter with dialogue that makes it so you can't tell who's talking. I feel special. Anyway, welcome to chapter two, where a lot of key players were introduced, even in the little bottom bit. That was only two people, if you were curious, and they will be revealed in due time, as well as a few other people we'll be needing later too! I don't plan on this cast to be as big as my last one, but it'll still be extensive. Some people will be more of…side characters we'll say. Anyway, my last fic, I gave Mathias a pretty bad rep, so I'm improving it for the sake of this story. A little. This isn't just a prologue anymore, so we should all be excited!**

**Plot and romance will be happening soon, my dear children, you must wait. All good things in due time. Anyway, I love Ivan, I like to think that he's just really socially awkward a lot of the time because he doesn't have a lot of friends. Matthew's the same, so they get along pretty well. (RuCan's another thing I ship sometimes, but PruCan will always be my OTP). **

**Anyway, please review! It's very, very kind of you! And I will see you next time I post!**


	3. Nicknames

The rest of the school day went by fairly well. Everyone in Matthew's math class kept up to date on what was going on with the robbery. All of the girls squealed once Energy was on the scene and the guys laughed and cheered when Energy kicked the ass of the guy holding people hostage. No one paid attention to the lesson, but on the bright side no one was killed or injured. The cops took the guy into custody and Energy disappeared as he usually did. Gilbert finally came back from the nurse at the very end of the period.

"Weird," Matthew commented as they left the class. "You disappear right before he shows up and come back after he disappears."

"Who?" Gilbert asked.

"Gilbert could never be Energy," Francis laughed, wrapping an arm around Gilbert's shoulders as people shuffled out of the room. "He is much too handsome to be a mutant in any case and I have seen him in front of a fight, he will puke before he can-"

"Okay, okay, shut the hell up," Gilbert jabbed him with his elbow. "Birdie, do ya still need that schedule of yours?"

"Oh, uh, Francis used his phone to look it up for me," Matthew shrugged, choosing to ignore the nickname for the time being. At some point when the teacher lost control of the class, Francis had come over (thankfully not to flirt) and they had gotten to know each other. Francis honestly couldn't care less about Energy, it was obvious to Matthew that Francis didn't like mutants.

"And I noticed that you happen to have this little gem in all of your classes," Francis smirked.

"Are you fucking serious?" Gilbert raised an eyebrow. "All of them?"

"I thought it was odd as well," Francis shrugged.

"Um…shouldn't we be…going to our next class soon?" Matthew offered quietly.

"Right…goody-two-shoes wants to get to class on time," Gilbert rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah whatever, let's get going. Oi, did you hear any news about Energy while I was out? "

"It is the same news as always," Francis sighed as they started walking through the crowded halls. Matthew had a hard time keeping up with them with all of the kids, luckily they were loud enough to be heard over the crowd. "He is an attention whore, always using his abilities to his advantage."

"Please," Gilbert laughed. "You try to get in bed with anything that moves, I'm happy Birdie looked past it. And you used whatever fucking sexy thing that is to your full advantage."

"You mean French?" Francis laughed. "It is not my fault many people find the language irresistible, including you."

"Why is my name Birdie now?" Matthew piped up.

"I do not attempt to follow his nicknames," Francis shrugged. "He calls ton petit frère West!"

"There's perfectly good reasons for all of the names I give! You're just jealous because the awesome me hasn't given you a name yet!" Gilbert cackled and stopped in front of a door that looked like it was for a science room.

"You already call me Franny," Francis smirked as he began to walk away. "You should come up with some gorgeous name for me, that describes my fabulous personality."

"Man whore sounds perfect to me!" Gilbert cackled before dragging Matthew into the classroom. "I don't fucking believe that we have all of our classes together. That's fucking weird."

"A-A little," Matthew murmured. "I guess."

"Gott, you're so fucking shy," Gilbert groaned. "Don't worry, Birdie, we'll fix that soon?"

"Who is we?" Matthew asked.

* * *

At lunch time, Matthew learned who we was. Turns out, Alfred also knew, as he had followed Feli, whose full name was Feliciano, to a few classes and had gotten to know Ludwig and Antonio. Matthew was able to meet Arthur, an angry Brit, in their English class, and then Lovino was a bit of a surprise once they got to the group's usual lunch table. He was supposedly Feliciano's brother, but Matthew had to honestly wonder how one turned out so polite and hyper and nice and the other turned out…cursing every other word.

"Stop fucking sitting so close to my brother!" Lovino snapped at Ludwig.

"You two were the ones that sat next to me," Ludwig sighed heavily. Matthew sat beside Alfred, across from the three, with Gilbert on Ludwig's other side, Antonio and Francis on Matthew's other side. Arthur sat on Lovino's other side, intent on reading and ignoring the rest of them.

"Lovi just hates you, get over it," Gilbert cackled.

"Don't fucking call me that!" Lovino snapped. "Fuck Antonio and that stupid nickname."

"It's not that bad," Matthew shrugged.

"Oh, yeah, I remember those punk ass kids in middle school gave you that shitty name," Alfred laughed. "What the hell was it?"

"Niagara Falls," Matthew mumbled. He was clumsy, especially when he was awkward like he was in 7th grade. He tripped down stairs a lot.

"Holy shit," Gilbert narrowly held back a laugh.

"That's so mean!" Feliciano's eyes went wide with pity.

"It's fine, I didn't think it was that bad," Matthew shrugged.

"If you relate that name to Birdie, Gilbert isn't bad at names, now is he?" Francis snickered and Gilbert kicked him under the table.

"So, why Birdie?" Antonio asked curiously. "I mean, sure you have that thing with your pequeño pájaro, and cute things, but-"

"But nothing about Gilbird," Gilbert snapped, a very light blush showing up on his pale skin and Matthew laughed slightly, Alfred laughing even harder next to him. "I don't have to explain any of my nicknames and shit to you. Or anyone."

"Yeah, because you're fucking awesome and the world revolves around you," Lovino said sarcastically.

"Exactly, glad you understand," Gilbert laughed.

"Oh, did you guys see the news story of Energy today?" Feliciano asked happily. "He was so cool! And no one was hurt, right?"

"Oui," Francis rolled his eyes. "And Gilbert over here ran to the nearest trashcan when he heard the story."

"Oi, shut up," Gilbert kicked him again.

"I do not see what the big deal about Energy is," Francis heavily placed his head in his hand. "He is just another mutant, and not even a very good looking one, either."

"Dude, I'm pretty sure half of the girls here would shoot you for saying something like that," Alfred laughed. "Even chicks back in Canada were all over him."

"Just mere looks is not what love is about," Francis shrugged. "It is about liking the personality as well. Energy is just some mutant obsessed with himself, nothing attractive about that at all."

"Yes, I'm quite sure you know about an attractive personality," Arthur snorted.

"Holy shit, he speaks," Alfred laughed. "Fuck, and he's got an accent."

"It is just British, nothing to be attracted to," Francis snickered.

"French is absolutely nothing to be impressed by, either," Arthur said.

"Fuck the French," Lovino laughed and Francis placed a hand dramatically over his heart. "Italians have always been the best lovers."

"You all wound me," Francis sighed.

"I have to agree with my fratello," Feliciano shrugged and Matthew laughed, they were seriously having a conversation about who was the best kind of lover. "Italians have this way of finding out what their lover likes and they know how to do it just right, si?"

"Well, we all know that all Germans are good for is being kinky," Antonio laughed and Gilbert cackled, but Ludwig blushed.

"That is not true," Ludwig protested.

"Bullshit!" Gilbert laughed. "I've seen your porn stash!"

"Gilbert!" Ludwig snapped.

"Dude, that shit's fucking awesome, don't be ashamed!" Gilbert laughed. "I think I've gotten off to more than a few."

Arthur scoffed, rolling his eyes, before slamming his book closed and standing up.

"Aw, is someone a little sad because they aren't even in league with good lovers?" Francis snickered. "The British are better at loving than cooking, I will give them that."

"Sod off," Arthur rolled his eyes and walked off.

"You should chase after your boyfriend," Antonio laughed, elbowing Francis in the side.

"Non, that is not what we are," Francis shook his head. "I would know what love is."

"Dude, Arthur? Are you serious?" Alfred laughed.

"Fucked up, right?" Gilbert smirked.

"I should've fucking guessed that you Germans are into fucked up shit," Lovino grumbled. "You're all disgusting."

"That's not completely true, Lovi," Feliciano smiled.

"Not completely?" Gilbert asked.

* * *

After school, Matthew managed to slip away in the crowd from Alfred and Gilbert. He quickly went to the office, waited 15 minutes for the people to notice him, and then figured out where to find the hockey team and when they met. Turned out that they were actually having a meeting that day, at the local ice rink, which was thankfully very close. With a quick thank you and a text to Alfred, Matthew ran off to go to the ice rink. The thick air around signified that there was going to be some kind of thunderstorm soon and Matthew just hoped it would hold off long enough for him to get back home.

Thankfully, the rink was close enough that Matthew didn't have to take a cab and use the small amount of money he and Alfred had to spend. That reminded him that he would have to get a job of some kind soon, but he could think about that tomorrow. This day was stressful enough as it was. Finally, he made it into the rink and was greeted by the amazing, familiar sound of skates sliding on the ice and the sound of a stick hitting a puck echoing through the space.

Matthew felt at home for the first time since they got to New York and let out a happy sigh, daring to walk further in. They weren't playing with any equipment on, just goofing around, though a lot of them did extremely well on the ice. He noticed that Mathias was there, along with a few of his other friends that Matthew had met that day. And then he noticed Ivan, who was calmly sitting on the home team bench.

"Hey, Ivan!" Matthew called out to him and Ivan looked confused for a moment before looking at him and smiling. Matthew hurried around the stands to get as close as possible.

"Matvey, I did not expect to see you," Ivan said.

"Even if they could get me to hate you with their gossip, I love hockey too much to pass this offer up," Matthew smiled. "I don't…by the way."

"Very good," Ivan smiled. "We are in off season now, games do not start to happen for few months, but we can take this time to see how good you really are."

"So, why did you say I'm tiny when you have someone on the ice smaller than me?" Matthew asked, looking at the people on the ice, who were starting to take notice in Matthew now.

"Ah, Tino," Ivan nodded. "He is very tiny and not strong, but that means he can sneak through the big people. If you were little smaller, I would consider it for you. Do you have equipment?"

"No," Matthew shook his head. "My last school paid for the equipment and basically owned it. I could pay for it, if you need me to."

"No offense, but you do not appear rich," Ivan said. He finally set about taking off his skates and easily jumped the low wall to stand in front of Matthew. "We can pay for you, I do not mind."

"Oh, you really don't have to," Matthew shook his head. "I can find some way-"

"Matvey," Ivan stopped him with a heavy hand on his shoulder. "You are friend, da? I have no issues helping you."

"Thank you," Matthew smiled. "Thank you so much. You really don't have to."

"We can have you borrow someone else's gear for now," Ivan started leading him towards a doorway that had a little light up sign that read "LOCKERS". "We will have to see what you can do."

* * *

"_Are you sure about this plan?"_

"_Yes, I have already cleared it with the boss."_

"_What if someone gets hurt during this little…show?"_

"_The only good thing about that mutant is that he doesn't want humans to get hurt. This show won't hurt anyone, except maybe him. This will be a good chance to examine his abilities more closely."_

"_When will this be staged?"_

"_One week. We already have our 'criminal' lined up. It will lessen his sentence or some other bullshit we told him."_

"_I'm really not sure about this."_

"_Do you want to rid the world of this dangerous mutant or not? He may be 'saving the day' now, but what if that changes? Not if, when. The mutants that hide among the others, they are fine because they're going to stay there. As much as it makes my skin crawl that the person I sit next to on a plane could be a mutant, they are just ashamed of being a mutant as we are that they exist. This one makes a show of it, he could turn and make a bad decision at any moment. We have to get rid of him."_

"_And what if humans get hurt for his sake? Are you willing to take that risk?"_

"_Yes."_

* * *

**Same two voices from before at the end. They plan their shit fast. Anyway, there was a hell of a lot of dialogue at lunch, but I really liked it, shows their dynamic as a friend group. And they're all fun to write anyway. And Ivan's so cute. I feel horrible for having a lot of people hate him, but he managed to be team captain of the hockey team, so I'm sure that group doesn't completely hate him. I chose to have the Nordics in the hockey team mainly because of their cold climate and they seem like they'd work well on the team. There's also a bunch of OCs on the team that will never be mentioned or named, just so we have a full hockey team. **

**Anyway, I know the pairings I promised are moving slow, as they are all mostly non-existent right now, but that's realistic right? The whole RusAme is a lot slower than everything else, but just give it two or three more chapters and I promise I won't disappoint. PruCan…give it a chapter to get the ball rolling. FrUK? We'll see...**

**Anyway, please review! It's very kind and I love you every time you do it.**


	4. Social Media

Matthew took a deep breath, going into a little grocery store that honestly didn't look too busy. There was a little "HELP WANTED" sign hanging in the door and he figured this would be good. It had been about a week since he had started school and he had gotten to know the schedule that the hockey team had (he was actually beaten up pretty bad and exhausted when he came home the first day, explaining that to Alfred while avoiding the subject of Ivan was near impossible) and got a fairly good idea of what the homework load was going to be for them, so he wanted to get another thing on track; a job. Alfred was sure he'd be working at McDonalds or something, so Matthew left him to that and decided to go to this little shop. He got his groceries here a little while ago and liked the air about it and the fact it wasn't extremely busy.

"Um, excuse me," Matthew said to the man at the counter, a brunette with fairly long hair, green eyes, and he seemed a little nervous, even more so than Matthew. "How do I apply for a job here?"

"You're hired," the man said quickly and Matthew jumped slightly.

"I'm sorry?" Matthew scratched his head. "Shouldn't you at least have me fill out an application or interview me?"

"Do you do drugs?" the man asked.

"No," Matthew shook his head.

"Have you ever done anything illegal?"

"No."

"What days can you work?"

"Um…The weekends, Tuesdays, and Thursdays," Matthew mumbled. "I have school during the week, so I can only work after 3."

"You're hired," the man smiled, quickly running around the counter and extending a hand to him. "My name is Toris Laurinaitis."

"Matthew Williams," Matthew shook his hand.

"Like, oh, my God! Did we hook another one, broski?" another…man?...asked as he came form the back room. He had long, blonde hair, and it was straight, unlike Francis', and he had bright green eyes. The most noteworthy thing, however, was the fact that he was wearing a bright pink skirt along with his work shirt, something Matthew was sure would be against the rules. Then again…if Toris was the boss, he was a bit of a pushover. "No way!" this newcomer shoved Toris out of the way to pull Matthew into an extremely close hug. "I'm, like Feliks, it's totally cool to meet you."

"Um…M-Matthew."

"Sweetness," Feliks smiled. "I'm gonna, like, show you around the back and stuff!" He immediately gripped hard onto Matthew's hand and started pulling him back from where he came.

"We will deal with your paperwork later," Toris chuckled, though he did give Matthew a pitying look as he was dragged to the back room.

* * *

He was there for hours, in all honesty. He had to give Alfred a few reassuring texts, telling Alfred he was fine and wouldn't come home with bruises after the poor boy sent him multiple panicked calls. Feliks threatened to take away his phone, jokingly, and Toris reminded him that he didn't have that privilege. Apparently, there were only a few other employees working there, the main ones being Feliks and Toris, which was why they needed help so desperately.

"I'm so sorry for keeping you this long," Toris sighed, looking outside of the store windows. Matthew did the same and saw that the sun was already beginning to set.

"Oh, it's fine, don't worry," Matthew assured him. "I'll be more than happy to help you guys out anyway I can."

"You better, like, make sure you show up again, I like you," Feliks smirked, patting his back.

"Sure," Matthew laughed. "I'll be back Thursday."

A bell twinkled from the door behind them and Toris immediately went behind the counter again and Feliks when to a position that Matthew was sure Toris pointed out to him to do. Matthew just nodded to the two before he turned around to leave. However, when Matthew turned around, he was greeted by something he never thought he'd see.

The man that had just entered the store had the hood from his sweatshirt up and wore sunglasses, and he had, holding in front of him and pointed right into Matthew's face, a cold, dark metal pistol.

"Don't move!" the man shouted. Matthew saw that his hand was shaking, but at this distance, if he shot, Matthew would have definitely been hit. "No one move!" He waved the gun around dangerously and Matthew noticed out of the corner of his eye that Feliks ducked behind one of the shelves. "You!" he pushed past Matthew, who then ducked where Feliks had gone, and went up to Toris. "Fill a bag with money!"

"Like, don't worry," Feliks whispered to him, holding out his phone. Matthew squinted at the screen and scoffed.

"You alerted Twitter?" Matthew scoffed. "What about calling the police?"

"Don't you know anything," Feliks rolled his eyes. "This is how you get Energy, duh!"

"I don't care who comes to save me!" Matthew hissed. "But it seems to me that police are better equipped for something like this!"

"No talking!" the man snapped and Feliks hastily hid his phone before the man came around, pointing his gun at both of them. They both slowly stood up and Matthew saw that he had an empty, plastic bag in his hand. The man, keeping his gun haphazardly pointed at them, went through the shelves and picked up a few things, shoving them in his bag. They were basic things, bread, chips, he went around to the fridges to get milk, went to another aisle to pick up baby food. He just wanted basic things, but by the look of his clothes, he probably couldn't afford them. Probably stole his gun, too.

He then looped back around to where Matthew and Feliks were and held onto Matthew's arm tightly, pulling him to the door, gun poised at Matthew's head. He finally let him ago and ran for the door, but another person entered, quite boisterously, too. Matthew immediately recognized him as Energy and, under different circumstances, would have laughed at how Feliks' plan worked. Looking at him this close, Matthew couldn't help but think that the man had this…familiar air about him.

"Well, shit," Energy laughed and Matthew noticed that his American accent was obviously fake, but it was bad enough to the point where Matthew couldn't figure out what kind of voice he was hiding. "You guys are damn lucky I was close."

"I'll shoot him!" the man trembled, pointing his gun at Matthew again. Energy's eyes widened slightly upon seeing him before diverting his attention back to the gunman.

"Yeah?" Energy scoffed. He took one small, simple step towards the man, who shouted and fired his gun. It felt like everything happened in less than a second. The sound of the gun echoed loudly in Matthew's head and he definitely expected to feel…something. But his vision turned red and he felt…nothing. It took him a moment to realize that he was in one of those energy boxes that Energy could make and saw that the bullet was simply resting on the ground in front of him. Energy stared at him for a while, odd blue eyes looking at him carefully, before he started moving.

Immediately, he was able to get the gun out of the hands of the gunman, knocking it to the ground and it slid slightly more towards Matthew. Energy landed a simple hit to the man's stomach and he doubled over, kneeling down onto the ground.

"Waste of time," Energy muttered and the box around Matthew disappeared. Energy picked up the bags that the man filled and let out a groan. The gunman moaned in pain. "Shit. Get the hell up."

"Wait, are you gonna, like, let him go and stuff?" Feliks popped his head up from behind the shelves.

"Get up, I didn't even hit you with anywhere close to my full strength," Energy sighed. The man slowly stood up, holding onto his gut. "Take your shit and get out of here. Before the police come because of your stupid gunshot."

The man quickly nodded, took his bag of stuff while Energy tossed the bag of money back to Toris, who barely caught it. The man ran out of the store as fast as he could and the store was quiet for a short while.

"Why did you let him go?" Toris asked shakily.

"He's stealing fucking bread, the kid needs a break," Energy scoffed. The more Matthew saw him, the more he noticed that he seemed oddly familiar, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. Finally, red and blue lights started flashing and Energy saluted the people in the store before running off.

"See? My tweet worked," Feliks smirked and Matthew shook his head.

* * *

"Oh, my God!" Alfred screeched as soon as Matthew opened the door to their apartment. It had been hours, as Matthew had been interviewed by not only the police, but also the endless amount of news people around the small store. Immediately, Alfred pulled him into a tight hug and Matthew sighed, kicking their door closed. "Holy shit, I saw it all on the news. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, don't worry," Matthew assured him. "Seriously."

"Dude, Energy was there, right?" Alfred held onto his shoulders, pushing him away slightly. "The news wasn't so clear about that, you gotta tell me, man! Real life hero in person? Holy shit!"

"Yeah, he was there," Matthew chuckled. "He, uh…he let the guy go."

"Wait, are you serious right now?" Alfred's eyes widened. Matthew figured the police wouldn't make it public if the guy was let go. "Why?"

"He was stealing basic stuff, like bread and…and baby food," Matthew shrugged. "If I were in his place, I would have let the guy go, too."

"They said that there was a bullet at the feet of one of the victims," Alfred said. "Did he shoot you? Did Energy save you?"

"Yes and yes," Matthew laughed slightly. "It was terrifying, but those weird energy boxes are actually really cool."

"Is he as hot as all the girls say he is in person?" Alfred laughed, quickly ducking into the kitchen, where there was some kind of microwave meal sitting on a plate on the stove, still steaming hot.

"I didn't know you swung that way," Matthew snorted.

"Nah, a bunch of chicks have been calling me because my bro's been saved by Energy, it's all over Facebook and shit," Alfred smirked. "You gotta tell me, since I know you swing that way."

"Uh-huh…" Matthew rolled his eyes. "So you want to impress a bunch of girls by confirming that Energy is hot? Don't you think that sends the wrong kind of message?"

"Well, I'll word it differently or something," Alfred shrugged. "Please, dude?"

"When you can actually tell a girl to her face that Energy's hot, I'll be sure to tell you where he lands on a scale of 1 to 10," Matthew laughed, picking up his food and a fork, and went over to the couch to watch some cartoons.

* * *

"_Rewind that part again."_

"_What did you see?"_

"_Look at Energy's face, the way he's looking at the boy he just saved from the gun."_

"_Are you saying he cares for that boy?"_

"_It could be a possibility. That boy, look up some information on him. It's obvious that Energy knows him by the way he recognized him when he first came in. We need to find out who that kid knows and where he could have met Energy."_

"_Running a scan for his face now."_

"_That boy has a school uniform, I'll run a search for it as well."_

"_No need, I went to that school not too long ago. It's an academy for the children of the rich and privileged."_

"_So my theory on Energy having a smart phone wasn't too farfetched, huh?"_

"_Match. Matthew Williams. As far as our information tells us, he's human."_

"_Judging by the look on his face, he doesn't know who Energy is. It won't do any good to interrogate him at this point. We'll have to see how this plays out. And find out any places he could know Energy. I'll admit , this was a good plan, despite Matthew almost getting shot."_

"_Our boss knows what he's doing, I'll give him that."_

* * *

**I love writing Poland, I don't get enough chances to do it and I needed Matthew to have a really good reason for being at that store and he needs a job anyway. While Alfred figures out if he wants to work at McDonalds or Burger King. And Energy manages to save the day once again! How exciting. In other news, I finally watched the dub of Beautiful World, though I have already seen it all subbed, and my life is officially complete and happy. Best two hours of my life spent watching it and the bloopers (if you haven't seen the outtakes yet, do it. Canada's got himself a potty mouth). **

**Anyway, I'm done rambling, please review! It's totally nice and awesome and things!**


	5. Social Interaction

Matthew yawned in his seat and lounged back into the chair. It was hard and plastic and uncomfortable, but he was exhausted. He could sleep on his desk if he really wanted to. He had to admit, juggling school, hockey, and a job was growing a little difficult, especially after Gilbert managed to get his phone number and texted him at ungodly hours of the night and morning (Matthew was definitely sure that guy didn't sleep). It was just homeroom, so it would be fine if he took a little nap, he figured. Just as he was beginning to doze off, Alfred was busy talking with Feli, a hand slammed into his desk and he jumped.

"What, did my awesome texts last night keep you up?" Gilbert laughed and Matthew gave him a half-hearted glare. It wasn't really Gilbert's fault, he was just swamped with work. And his body was still sore from getting hit by a puck "accidentally" by Matthias so many times the night before.

"Sure," Matthew sighed. "What do you want?"

"Wow, you're blunt when you're tired and cranky," Gilbert snickered. "I was just gonna be awesome and invite you to a party. I do it all the time, my parents are never around, the fuckers. You and hamburger brains should go."

"Why?" Matthew asked. He normally wasn't the kind of person that got invited to parties, that was usually Alfred. But it was Gilbert inviting, which meant he wouldn't invite Alfred without a reason.

"You're awesome, Birdie!" Gilbert laughed. "And I figured your bruder's so overprotective that he would have to be there or some shit." Well, that answered one part of Matthew's question. "Tomorrow night! My place! I can text you the address or something."

"At two in the morning, most likely," Matthew mumbled.

"The most awesome time of the morning!" Gilbert smirked. "Will ya come? Please? It won't be awesome without you!"

"I'll consider it," Matthew chuckled. When he did go to parties, he normally didn't have much fun. He was the "designated sober person" so that people could get home without killing themselves and so he just sat in the corner awkwardly while everyone else drunk themselves silly. Sure it, was funny sometimes to watch drunk people, but you could get bored after a while.

"Not good enough, Birdie," Gilbert smirked, leaning a little closer to him. "C'mon! Do it!"

"Maybe," Matthew leaned away. "I'm still tired, I can't make a good decision while I'm tired."

"Then I'll ask you at lunch!" Gilbert said proudly. "And if you still don't have an answer, I'll keep asking 'till you say yes!"

"What if I say no?" Matthew asked.

"Not an option for this question," Gilbert shook his head.

"Which basically means I'm going no matter what?" Matthew raised an eyebrow.

"Exactly!" Gilbert said proudly. "So, made your decision yet?"

"Do I have a choice?" Matthew laughed. "Sure. But you can tell Al…Hey, would you mind if I invited someone else?"

"Sure, I don't care, the more the merrier, man!" Gilbert nodded proudly. "I'll just tell your bro that we have junk food and he'll come running."

"It's not like he's fat," Matthew laughed.

"Yet," Gilbert pointed at him. "No one else eats that fucking bad. He'll live to be 40 or something, I swear."

"Whatever, just go invite him, and let me sleep," Matthew sighed, folding his arms on the table in front of him and resting his head on them as Gilbert walked away. He could use a good night's rest before a party like this, but he still had to work later that day. He could always ask to leave early or something. The store basically remained empty after 9 anyway.

* * *

"I really don't know why I agreed to this," Matthew mumbled as he stood next to Alfred in the elevator. Yes, elevator. Matthew went online at the library to look up how to get to Gilbert's place, and when he got there with Alfred, they were greeted by this massive building with a doorman and everything. Matthew almost thought it was a hotel. But they had to say what floor and room they were going to, which were a part of the address that Matthew had previously not understood. And so they were in an elevator, going to the penthouse at the top of the building. That high school really was full of rich kids after all.

"Don't be such a wimp," Alfred laughed, elbowing him in the side. Matthew looked down at his clothes, sure that they would look like shit in comparison to the clothes that all of the rich kids would have on. Now he felt even more awkward than before. "A party's a party. It's gonna be awesome and fun! Don't worry!"

"I'm worrying a lot, Al," Matthew mumbled, ringing his hands. Finally, the elevator stopped and opened with a ding that was easily overshadowed by the blasting bass of the music that Matthew could barely hear it was so loud and the crowd of teenagers that filled up the penthouse. Alfred just laughed and dragged Matthew further inside. Alfred chatted with a few people he knew from school, some girl tried to flirt with him, but Alfred wasn't drunk enough to flirt back yet, and Matthew stayed behind his brother, as close as possible. He didn't see any sign of Gilbert, who was most likely being a host somewhere. Matthew should have figured he would have been left alone, it was a good thing he had invited another person, just in case Alfred ditched him, like he normally did.

Finally, they reached where Matthew supposed the kitchen was, which was their temporary bar, as it seemed, and he saw the person he invited, Ivan.

"Dude, what the hell is he doing here?" Alfred asked him loudly in his ear. "Gilbert wouldn't invite him!"

"I invited him," Matthew explained and Alfred gave him the weirdest look. Matthew rolled his eyes and simply gripped onto Alfred's wrist, pulling him over to Ivan, who smiled briefly at Matthew before frowning at Alfred. "Hello!"

"Hello, Matvey!" Ivan greeted him happily.

"How long have you been here for?"

"Just few minutes," Ivan shrugged. "Not long."

"Fucking creep," Alfred grumbled and Matthew glared at him. Alfred put his hands up in surrender.

"We should all have drink, da?" Ivan suggested. "It will make us relaxed."

"Sure," Matthew shrugged and Alfred gave him a pleading look. "Stay," Matthew growled at his brother as Ivan went through the drinks. Matthew didn't pay him a lot of attention, ensuring that Alfred stayed put. He was sure that if people really got to know Ivan, they would know that he wasn't a creep or crazy.

"He'll poison it or something," Alfred hissed at him and Matthew glared at him once again.

"Here," Ivan said happily, setting down three shot glasses filled with a clear liquid.

"Wait, I can't start the night with vodka," Matthew shook his head.

"It is like water, da?" Ivan smiled innocently and Matthew had to admit Ivan had those certain qualities that could make someone question his sanity. He was mostly normal, though.

"C'mon Matt," Alfred smirked. "He's your friend, right? That means we can do whatever he wants, right?"

Matthew sighed while Alfred grabbed the two shot glasses and handed one to Matthew. Alfred was trying to prove a point, he was going to force Matthew through this to eventually convince him to get away from Ivan. Well, Matthew could play that game well enough. He downed the shot glass easily, easier than Alfred, and Ivan smiled. The vodka burned Matthew's throat and he winced slightly. It had been a long time since he'd had hard liquor, but the buzz came quickly. This stuff obviously wasn't cheap.

By the time Matthew came to his senses, there was another shot glass of vodka in front of him, Alfred having another one in his hand as well. He and Alfred laughed slightly before taking their own shots. Ivan smiled as well, though he seemed far less affected by the vodka than the twins.

"Okay, well, dude, you can hang out with your friend," Alfred mumbled. "I'm gonna go be social with other people." He started to walk away, stumbling slightly. Matthew wasn't about to stop him, really, he'd given Ivan a fair shot, of maybe a minute or so. However, Ivan reacted quickly to Alfred moving away and quickly shot his hand out to grab onto his wrist.

"Wait," Ivan blurted out and Matthew jumped slightly.

"Shit, let go, you're hurting me," Alfred snapped and Ivan immediately let go, eyes wide. Alfred swiftly made a show of hiding his wrist with his sleeve and Matthew raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry," Ivan said quickly. "Please, stay."

"Fine," Alfred nodded shakily. "If you get more vodka."

"Da," Ivan nodded and quickly went to retrieve more.

"What are you doing?" Matthew asked his brother, who shrugged and rubbed slightly at his wrist.

"I'm hanging out with your friend," Alfred shrugged. "Is there something wrong with doing that sort of thing?"

"Don't you dare take advantage of him, alright?" Matthew narrowed his eyes. "He's…not used to having friends."

"Neither are you," Alfred laughed and Ivan came back, giving them each another shot of vodka. Matthew already felt himself swaying slightly and he was already feeling a little slap happy. He tried to focus on what was going on with Alfred and why he was actually willingly staying with Ivan, but his train of thought slammed to a halt when someone suddenly pulled him away by his arm.

"Birdie!" Gilbert shouted, pulling him through the crowd of teenagers until they stopped at a wall that was filled with windows, one that gave an amazing view of the city around them, but Matthew was finding it very hard to focus on that at this point. "You're so lucky I saw you with that creep and saved you! Who the hell invited him, anyway? I sure as hell didn't."

"I did," Matthew laughed slightly and noticed that Gilbert was holding two bottles of beer in one hand. He finally let Matthew go and handed him one of them before taking a swig of his own.

"Why the hell would you do that?" Gilbert asked.

"I asked if I could invite someone, so I did," Matthew shrugged. "Is something wrong with that?"

"Nein…" Gilbert shrugged and clanked the neck of his bottle against Matthew's.

"I find it funny how you felt a need to save me, but you left Al all alone with the 'creep'," Matthew rolled his eyes.

"He's a big boy, he can handle himself," Gilbert shrugged with a smirk and Matthew finally took a swig of the beer. It tasted rather good, especially after the vodka shots.

"So, where are all of the others?" Matthew asked. "I was sure you'd be surrounded by them at this point."

"Well," Gilbert took a sip of his beer in thought. "Toni's off with Feli and Lovi at the pool. Franny is with some chick in West's room, don't tell him or he'll flip. Arthur's groveling in some corner, clutching scotch and complaining about a frog or something, last I checked. And West is…somewhere. I honestly have no idea where he goes during these parties, but he's always around to force me to clean it, like I wouldn't anyway. Whatever." He took another drink.

"Huh," Matthew mumbled and took a long drink from the beer. He was definitely starting to feel a little more on the drunk side. He was never drunk often, but he was told that he came out of his bubble a little whenever he got drunk. He wasn't sure if that would be a good or bad thing around Gilbert. "So, you have me alone in this corner, away from anyone that could stop you, what is it that you intend to do?"

"I have to get you smashed first before I reveal my awesome plan," Gilbert snickered. His face was slightly flushed, but Matthew was pretty sure it would take a lot to get him to actually get drunk. Unlike Matthew. "That way you won't remember it."

"Yeah?" Matthew laughed and clanked his bottle against Gilbert's. "Then get me another beer to begin the first stages of your plan." He easily swallowed what remained of the bottle. He had started noticing his words slurring slightly, but he found that he didn't quite mind. This would probably be the most fun he would ever have at a party.

* * *

"_This is strange…Where is he? Normally, with something like this, Energy would not hesitate to come and rescue them."_

"_The fire department seems to have it handled. Though it is odd. Then again, from our estimates, Energy is a teenager. It's Friday night, maybe he's at a party or something."_

"_The only good thing this mutant had going for it was the fact that he saved humans. Now he's ignoring that job? He should have remained in hiding if he would not take it seriously."_

"_That hair sample that we were able to get from a few days ago, did you have it tested?"_

"_It's a wig. That means we cannot base our search off of black hair and those blue eyes are obviously contacts. We can't even get a match on Energy no matter what we do. Have you done your search on Matthew Williams?"_

"_Yes, he attends school, he goes to hockey practice, a school team, and he goes to work where none of the workers could be Energy, as they all had good alibis. He does not socialize much with anyone other than people at school and his twin, Alfred."_

"_Which would mean that Energy is a student at his school. If it would not cause harm to humans, we should stage something at the school, but that would be far riskier than at the store. And we still haven't received authorization to observe Matthew to see who he converses with that could match Energy."_

"_Perhaps we should follow the mutant's lead and take a little break, rest a bit. You could use the rest. Come on, I haven't heard you play in a very long time."_

"_Yes, I suppose you're right. Let's go home."_

* * *

**If any of y'all are wondering how Energy managed to get into his bedroom in the prologue when it's at a penthouse on top of a huge building, he used his little energy construct things and pops a window (which, in theory, is very dangerous considering how high up he is, but that's not important). Anyway, I do not have experience getting drunk, all I have is from when I observed my step-sisters in Cancun while they got drunk every night. I tried to make it realistic, but I would like to think that three vodka shots could get you pretty far. Anyway, there was a little interaction between Alfred and Ivan and it's meant to be confusing for a while, don't worry. Alfred has very good reasons for what he's doing. Trust me.**

**Anyway, I think that's all I have to say, so please review! And join me next time! **


	6. Morning After

Matthew woke up with a horrible headache. That was the first thing he noticed as his brain struggled to fully process what was going on. The next thing was that the bed he was in was huge and incredibly soft. Definitely not his bed. He did a mental checklist, suffering through his headache, and found that he was shirtless, but his pants were still securely on. He slowly moved his hands to check his body for any marks and was able to find a few. His face turned red, but it wasn't that bad. He finally opened his eyes and looked around the room, noting that it was extremely dark. He could barely make out the king sized bed around him, a large box in front of him that might have been a TV, and then a desk that was covered in piles of probably paper. He was alone, which was odd, considering the circumstances.

It was only a few minutes later, though, that he was no longer alone. A door opened, revealing some of the light of day for a brief moment before it closed again and someone walked in.

"Awesome, you're awake," came the familiar voice of Gilbert and Matthew could vaguely make out his murky shape in the darkness. He was just as peppy as usual, leading Matthew to think that he either didn't drink much the night before or had the wonderful ability to just never be hungover. Matthew did the first thing that came to mind and covered his head with the comforter of the bed and rolled over, his back to Gilbert. "Aw, come on, don't be like that. I'm being quiet, at least. For your sake."

A short stretch of silence. Matthew really wasn't in the mood to talk, the pounding in his head only growing worse as he grew more and more awake.

Gilbert sighed heavily and Matthew heard footsteps before they stopped in front of the bed. He heard two objects get placed on something hard, most likely a bed side table or something. "Pain pills and glass of water." That was all he said before he walked over to where the desk was and rolled out the chair to sit down on it. It only took Matthew a second to turn around and pick up the bottle of pills and open the cap. "There you go. Oh, don't worry about the empty stomach thing, you didn't puke."

"Thanks," Matthew mumbled and finally pulled out a few of the pills and nearly took them dry, but the mere thought of water was too tempting. He gulped down the whole glass in just a few seconds. He really wished he had more water, but he wasn't sure if he could just up and ask Gilbert.

"Need more water?" Gilbert asked and Matthew nodded before realizing that Gilbert probably couldn't see him very well.

"Yeah," Matthew mumbled. Gilbert stood up with a sigh, walked over to pick up what he had left, and then swiftly left the room. Matthew slowly began to sit up, holding onto his head as he did so. Matthew was definitely curious as to why he was in Gilbert's "penthouse" or whatever. It didn't seem like there was much room there for other people to stay, which meant that a lot of them most likely were able to stagger home. "Alfred," Matthew groaned. He would have to find his phone to call Alfred and see what happened to him. If he found out that Alfred got himself into something stupid, Matthew was going to kill him.

The door opened again and shut out the light quickly. Gilbert walked up to him, holding another glass of water as well as a tray of food. He placed the water on the nightstand and delicately placed the try onto the bed next to Matthew. Then he moved back to the desk chair he was in before.

"Okay, I'm shit with silence," Gilbert groaned after Matthew easily downed the second glass. "I know you're hungover and shit, but you could at least talk a little. Please? You talked a lot last night…"

"Mind helping me remember some things?" Matthew asked, examining the tray a little closer. There appeared to be scrambled eggs and two small pancakes, but there was sadly no syrup in sight. He picked up one pancake, not bothering with the fork and knife at this point. "My memory gets a little foggy after you nearly got in a fist fight with Francis over Energy."

"Right," Gilbert laughed slightly. Matthew began to nibble on the pancake. It wasn't as good as his were, but it would do for now. Pancakes were generally a cure-all; any illness or headache, it could cure. "Well, not a lot happened after that. That was about the point everyone was drunk off their asses and West and I generally get everyone taxis home at that point so we don't have to deal with their shit the next day. I mean, there was this huge thing at the pool, where Alfred and Ivan managed to spill fucking vodka into it and then everyone started to pour vodka into the pool and then swim in it, thinking they were swimming in vodka. Your bruder's an idiot when he's drunk."

"Do you know what happened to him?" Matthew asked.

"He must have gotten lost in the crowd or something," Gilbert shrugged. "Ivan was sticking pretty close to him, though, so I think he'd be safe if he was with him."

"If you send everyone home, how come I'm here?" Matthew asked, about halfway done with his pancake. He really had no appetite, but he couldn't just let pancakes go to waste, now could he?

"One, didn't know your address," Gilbert shrugged. "Two…this thing kinda happened and you decided you wanted to play seven minutes in heaven with me and dragged me in here and-"

"I'm okay without the details," Matthew cut him off, a blush rising to his face. He never wanted to know what he did drunk, he could deal with everyone but him knowing the details. The fact that the bumps on Matthew's neck were most likely from Gilbert did make the blush a little worse, though. "Do you know where my phone is?"

"I'm sure the maids have found it by now," Gilbert shrugged. "It wasn't in your pocket or anything when we…you know." There was a small, soft ping and Gilbert pulled out his own phone, the screen lighting up his pale face. He frowned at it before his eyes widened. "I'll be back, I'm gonna be sick," Gilbert mumbled, leaving his phone behind as he quickly left the room, slamming the door shut loudly. Matthew winced.

With a shaky sigh, Matthew placed the tray to the side, having finally finished the first pancake. He slowly got to his feet, which he noticed were bare, and started to look around for his shoes. His eyes were mostly accustomed to the darkness of the room and he quickly found them, along with his shirt, which was carefully folded and smelled like it had been washed. Most likely by the maids Gilbert was talking about. Matthew quickly put it on and then his socks, which were also washed, before his shoes. To keep his balance, Matthew placed a hand on the wall and accidentally pressed what felt like a little nob. Out of nowhere, the wall in front of him turned bright and Matthew hissed, covering his eyes with his arm. After a short while, Matthew looked up, blinking away the pain that came with the sunlight that had somehow entered the room.

He found that it was a similar wall to that in the main room, completely made up of large windows. He figured that they must tint based on the nob. Matthew carefully touched one of the windows and jumped when it moved, half expecting it to plummet to the ground, but it just swung outwards before moving on its own to close itself.

"Okay…" Matthew mumbled and turned around, not bothering with returning the room to darkness. He would leave the room soon anyway and judging by the light outside of the room, the rest of the penthouse was still bright. He picked up the second pancake and walked by the desk, vaguely glancing down at Gilbert's phone, which was still on. It showed a news story of a shootout between the police and a few men trying to steal an armored truck transporting money to a bank. That explained Gilbert's sudden need to puke.

Mustering his courage, Matthew left the room and entered what looked like a hallway, where maids were bustling around with trash bags and cleaning utensils. Matthew nodded to them and they smiled back. He walked through the hallway and quickly found the living room, which looked quite a bit different from the night before. It held a massive black leather couch with a huge glass table in front of it. As Matthew walked further into the room, he saw that, on the wall with the door, was a huge flat-screen TV with a whole media system set up. It also held a glass wall and Matthew could clearly see the pool through it, calmly reflecting the sky above it.

Matthew picked up the universal remote that was lying on the glass table and decided to go ahead and turn on the news. A big story like the one he saw would definitely have Energy at it and he figured he might as well watch while Gilbert collected himself. He was a guest, he couldn't just leave without saying goodbye and thank you to him. As Matthew carefully sat down on the couch and the TV turned out, oddly already at the news channel, Ludwig stepped into the room from where the kitchen connected.

"So you are finally awake," Ludwig muttered and Matthew nodded to him. Neither said another word and, while Matthew watched the story play out, still no Energy in sight, he noticed that Ludwig was inspecting the place, cleaning here and there where he supposed the maids missed. Finally, Energy appeared on the scene and easily blocked any bullets with his energy constructs. Using his strength, he knocked back the robbers. Matthew noticed that Ludwig had stopped his inspection to watch the news story as well, closely looking at the TV.

Energy enjoyed the spotlight on him for a while from the news crew before he decided to quickly leave, walking high among the buildings using his energy constructs. The lady broadcasting the news went on and on to glorify Energy and Matthew would have chuckled, if Ludwig wasn't there.

"You know, it's rather odd," Matthew chanced speaking. "All of the time I've known Gilbert, he always gets sick right before Energy shows up."

"He has never been good with violence," Ludwig said gruffly before leaving the room, most likely to go inspect the next. Matthew sighed, watching as the news changed its story to another part of the world and he started to tune it out. He was just joking around, he doubted that someone like Gilbert could really be a superhero, but it was still an interesting thought. Matthew had only been around a few weeks, but Gilbert did always run away every time before Energy showed up.

Finally, Matthew remembered that he should be looking for his phone, but his search stopped short when a maid swiftly walked into the room, holding a phone out to him.

"Would this be yours, young man?" the woman asked delicately.

"Oh, um, yes, thank you," Matthew nodded, gratefully retrieving his phone. The woman nodded with a bright smile before running off to another part of the penthouse. Matthew found it odd that he had no missed calls or messages from Alfred, who should have been nervous for him. With a sigh, preparing for the worst, Matthew called his brother.

It only rang a few times before Alfred picked up. "Hey…dude!" he said in his false cheerful voice, the one he had when he was about to lie badly.

"Hey, Al," Matthew sighed. "Where are you?"

"Definitely not Ivan's," Alfred blurted out. Matthew forgot how bad of a liar Alfred was when he was hungover. It was a skill. "Don't worry, I'm safe. Where are you?"

"Gilbert's," Matthew sighed. "I'll be heading home soon. Do you have a safe way to get home? You know our address, right? You can get there on your own?"

"Yeah, Mom, don't worry," Alfred grumbled and Matthew smiled slightly. "Shit…Um, anyway! Thanks for calling! Gotta go!"

And Alfred hung up. Matthew laughed slightly, shaking his head. Whatever Alfred was doing at Ivan's, Matthew only hoped it would turn out well. Ivan definitely needed more friends, that much was obvious. Alfred may not like him much, but he could at least try to be his friend for the sake of it.

After a while, Gilbert finally came out, still looking more pale than usual. Matthew excused himself out and took a cab home, thankful that that awkward situation was over. It didn't help that he could see that Gilbert had hickeys on his neck in the light.

* * *

Alfred felt like he was about to have a panic attack. He took a few deep breaths, clutching his phone. Matthew had called, disturbing the painfully delicate balance of everything. He'd woken up…painfully hungover, still was…in a bed with Ivan. His back ached, but he could ignore that for now. He'd managed to make it out of Ivan's arms when his phone rang, and it didn't seem like the larger boy was awake yet. Thankfully, Alfred was still fully clothed and he tugged down on the sleeve that covered the wrist Ivan had touched the day before.

"Okay…" Alfred sighed quietly, slowly getting up and looking around the room. His shoes weren't in there, but he could easily make it home without shoes. Really, he could. Alfred shuddered when he glanced back at Ivan and saw that he had hickeys. Alfred really didn't want to feel his neck to see if he had any. But Matthew would be able to see them…He could pick up make up or something on his way home to cover it all up and he could go on with his life.

He quietly made his way to the door of the room and almost felt bad. Almost. Ivan was lonely and wanted friends, but Alfred could rationalize him wanting to get away. Even through his hangover, just being around Ivan made him feel weird now. Damn all of that vodka, he would probably feel this sick every time he was near Ivan. There, that was a good plan, he would just avoid Ivan for the rest of his life.

As soon as he left the room, however, he was greeted by someone he'd never seen before. She had short, light blonde hair and bright blue eyes and wore a very, very happy smile. Even through her baggy clothes, however, Alfred was definitely distracted by the _massive_ boobs weighing down her chest.

"Hello!" she said happily, smiling even wider.

"Hi…" Alfred mumbled.

"So you are the little friend Ivan brought home last night, da?" she asked happily and Alfred nodded slowly. Ivan had another person living with him? She acted a lot like a mother, maybe that was it. But she was pretty odd for a mother, waiting outside of her son's room to wait for his possible lover to come out. "You and Ivan drank a lot last night, didn't you? I can get you some water and I've already made breakfast. Is Ivan getting ready?"

"Um, you know, I'm good," Alfred said, slowly moving around the woman. "Really. And…uh…Ivan's still asleep. I just have a…uh…family emergency and I really gotta get home."

"Oh, is that so? That's too bad," the woman frowned slightly.

"You were the harlot that was in big brother's bed?" another woman asked, quickly coming from the kitchen and Alfred shuddered. She had long hair, light blonde as well, and dark blue eyes and was very obviously holding a knife in Alfred's direction. The first thought to enter Alfred's head was, _I'm gonna die here._

"I should really be going," Alfred blurted out, quickly ducking around the girl with the knife.

"Oh, sister, that is no way to treat Ivan's guests," the woman with big boobs said, still sounding very happy.

"They're all crazy," Alfred mumbled under his breath. He noticed that the women followed him to the door, which he guessed lead out due to the doormat with…his shoes. He swiftly put them on.

"You can come back any time you want," the woman with boobs smiled at him. "It is nice to see Ivan making friends."

"But if you get that close to him again, I will slit your throat," the girl with the knife threatened.

"Right, I'll keep that in mind," Alfred mumbled and darted out the door as fast as he could, only stopping to catch his breath when he was about three blocks down the street. They lived in a simple townhouse, but it was in a rich part of New York. His head was throbbing from being drunk the night before and Alfred groaned. He felt sick, like he should puke. He would probably puke sometime on his way back home.

Alfred still cursed himself for deciding to stick around Ivan. Even in his drunk state, he shouldn't have decided to stay around the creep just based off when he grabbed for his wrist. He was so desperate for friends and Alfred just had to feel like a hero and be his friend for at least a little while. He really wished he remembered what happened after that twelfth vodka shot.

* * *

**Two different morning afters for the twins. Matthew gets a nice, caring Gilbert who goes to fight crime while Alfred gets the shit scared out of him by Ivan's sisters. This was the first time we got Alfred's perspective, too! So happy! It's also the first time we didn't close with the two voices, they're taking their short break and being happy together. This is moving kinda slow now, but I say give it some time, and then it'll start picking up some more. For now, fan service as relationships figure their shit out.**

**Please review!**


	7. Usefulness

When school started on Monday, Matthew found it rather odd that, despite coming to school with Alfred, his twin had managed to disappear into the crowd and didn't reappear in homeroom. At all. The bell rang as Matthew sat his backpack down on the desk in front of him and looked at the door in confusion. Where could Alfred have gone off to?

"Oi, Birdie," Gilbert said suddenly, scaring Matthew as he hadn't noticed that he was behind him. "Scared ya, huh?" Gilbert snickered as Matthew turned around to give him a half-hearted glare. "Where's your bruder?"

"I have a feeling…" Matthew mumbled, looking at Ivan in the back of the room, who was frowning and looking at the door to the room. "He might be avoiding Ivan."

"Why?" Gilbert asked, leaning on the desk nonchalantly. It was odd, Matthew thought, that Gilbert wasn't with someone else at that point. It seemed like he was usually never alone, something to do with his ego or whatever, Matthew usually didn't mind. But it seemed like Gilbert wanted privacy for this, leaving Feli to talk to other kids in their homeroom, which he seemed to have no problem with.

"He was there the morning after your party?" Matthew shrugged. "Whatever, I don't really care. I'll just have to make sure he doesn't miss another class because of a stupid reason like that."

"Dude, I'd be avoiding him, too, if I stepped into that house," Gilbert snorted. "I heard his sister murdered someone."

"What?" Matthew scoffed. He hadn't even heard of Ivan's sisters before, despite the amount of time he was with the larger teenager. "That's just a rumor."

"I've also heard from one of the people that made it out alive that his other sister has giant knockers," Gilbert snickered, but Matthew noticed that he was keeping his voice low for once, most likely to make sure Ivan didn't hear. "So, anyway, there was actually something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Uh, yeah?" Matthew asked, rubbing at his neck slightly. The hickeys were more or less just small bumps at this point, but he was still a little self-conscious about them. Gilbert's had been more noticeable considering his pale skin, but they were gone now. The closer Matthew looked however, the more he could see that there was a little makeup caked on over his neck.

"So, obviously something happened at the party, whether it was drunk or not," Gilbert shrugged. "Figured we should do something. I decided not to say anything Saturday since you were, you know, hungover and shit."

"What is there to do?" Matthew asked, a blush rising to his face. God, he had hoped that he wasn't too embarrassing and asking his brother about what happened turned out to be useless, because that changed the topic to Ivan very fast, since Alfred apparently hadn't left his side all night, and that topic lead to Alfred hiding away in his room for a few hours, playing Call of Duty or something.

"Well, we obviously did something," Gilbert shrugged. "My memory got a little fuzzy after a while, but there's still proof and shit. And I don't want it to be awkward, considering we basically spend all day together, I'm not saying that isn't awesome or anything. It's just…"

"We made out, most likely?" Matthew shrugged.

"Yeah," Gilbert sighed. He obviously wasn't good with situations like this. Matthew didn't exactly have experience, either, but Gilbert seemed like the kind of person that would be perfectly fine making out with somebody he'd only met that day and never see again. He wasn't one for a relationship and Matthew could sense it.

"What do you think we should do?" Matthew asked. He was definitely embarrassed about it. As relaxed as he had been Saturday, he was still freaking out a little. Not as much as Alfred…but still freaking out.

"Don't try to be diplomatic, Canadian," Gilbert smirked slightly. "I say we either ignore it completely and go on with our lives…or we play around with the subject a little more."

"Well, considering I can't remember it at all, it would be easy for me to ignore it," Matthew chuckled and now it was Gilbert's turn to blush and he looked away slightly. "Do…you remember it?"

"I wasn't…that drunk Friday," Gilbert mumbled and Matthew raised an eyebrow.

"So I was completely drunk and with no filter," Matthew said, "and yet you were partially sober, enough to remember most of the night, and you made out with me?"

"They say that when you're drunk, you do what you really want to do," Gilbert glared half-heartedly at him. "It's not like it's all my fault."

"Well, I think a sober person acting on their feelings speaks a little louder than a drunk one," Matthew said and Gilbert frowned slightly, looking away. Matthew took a deep breath. "How was it? The kiss?"

"Sloppy," Gilbert shrugged. "Tasted like beer, which I didn't mind. You obviously had no idea what you were doing."

"Obviously," Matthew snorted.

"But…good?" Gilbert shrugged.

"Are you unsure about that?" Matthew laughed.

"You also speak a lot of French when you're drunk, figured I should say," Gilbert shrugged.

"Francis did say something about French turning you on," Matthew laughed once again. Gilbert's blush deepened even more. "So what do you want to do about this?"

"I got a plan," Gilbert mumbled. "You won't like it, probably. But it's the best way I can think of to figure all of this shit out."

"Well, this is obviously a hard decision for you," Matthew smirked. "So whatever helps you figure it out."

Gilbert moved suddenly and quickly, placing a slightly hesitant hand on the back of Matthew's head and neck and pulled him close. Their lips connected and Matthew jumped slightly, his eyes wide and Gilbert's shut tight. It felt…odd, Gilbert's lips crashed onto his. They both moved slightly, lips moving nearly in unison and Matthew found his hands slowly reaching up to reach Gilbert's head as he kissed back. He felt something hot pooling in the pit of his stomach as they continued, Matthew threading his fingers through Gilbert's hair.

And then the harsh SNAP of a ruler hitting a desk made them both jump apart slightly, leaving Matthew thinking that something was definitely missing, feeling cold due to that absence. Gilbert stared at him with wide eyes.

"No PDA," the teacher snapped at them and Matthew swallowed thickly. The whole class was staring at them, aside from Ivan who was still looking at the door, as if willing Alfred to come in. "Separate yourselves, or I will do it for you."

Matthew nodded and Gilbert started subtly laughing. Gilbert ducked over to the table he usually sat at, which was a fair distance from Matthew's and Matthew sat down as well. He had never felt so depressed at how far away the desk seemed. Suddenly, Matthew's phone buzzed in his pocket and he picked it up, examining it. It was just homeroom, no one cared if he texted.

_Wanna go out with me?_

The text was from Gilbert and Matthew nearly face-palmed. He wasn't quite subtle, was he? Matthew was almost thankful that Alfred wasn't there. He would be worse than Feliciano, who was congratulating Gilbert and talking all about love and girlfriends and Gilbert just smirked, looking at Matthew expectantly. Matthew typed his quick reply before ducking his phone away from the teacher, who was still irritated and slightly awkward.

Gilbert definitely wasn't subtle when he stood up, fist in the air, shouting, "Fuck yes!"

* * *

Energy was incredibly happy, running quickly on his energy constructs over the city, making a beeline for a certain building that he frequented, especially when there was no big crime going on for him to worry about. It was broad daylight and people honked and booed and cheered for him as he passed and Gilbert smirked at the attention. But that wasn't the attention he was happy to have. He definitely hadn't been sure about Matthew before school started, he was a little bundle of nerves before homeroom. He'd never been good with relationships and the idea of starting one based on a drunken make-out session definitely wasn't ideal. However, that kiss they shared had been _perfect_, dare he say _awesome._ Now he couldn't stop himself from thinking about those lips, stealing endless kisses when teachers weren't looking during lunch, or ducking him away in the middle of class. His adorable as fuck Canadian that had the lips and skin of a God. Gilbert just wished he wasn't forced to hold back all of his strength.

Energy slid to a stop once he reached the building he had been searching out. The window was open, as always and Energy stuck his head excitedly through it and into the little apartment. This building didn't even have a fire-escape, which was stupid in Gilbert's opinion, but that made it a little easier for him to get access to this window. He'd met this guy on accident, stumbling into his apartment after he nearly got beaten senseless on one of his first nights. The man helped him get his bearings again and offered him advice. Energy just happened to come back a few times after that, asking for what course to take on certain actions. Like just the day before, when Energy came to the man asking about his situation with Matthew. Evidently, this man had a thing for gay dudes, but Gilbert wasn't about to make it weird around them.

"You're a fucking genius!" Energy shouted into the apartment, startling to small man, who had apparently been making tea. The man nearly dropped his teapot, but was able to place it back on his stove without a problem. Despite being in the middle of a shady part of New York, this man had a pretty clean and decent looking home, always spotless.

"Arigato," the man mumbled. His name was Kiku, he came from Japan a few years ago. Evidently, they had this weird custom of last names and shit, but Gilbert ignored that easily and just called him by his first name. Kiku didn't seem to mind that much. "Would you mind me asking what this is about?"

"Your advice on the kid from Friday," Energy smirked. "I did what you said and just planted a kiss on him and it worked!"

Kiku's face became red and he placed his tea cup down, which he was about to drink from, but he was apparently too flustered. "I simply told you to confront the matter, not…use such outright affection."

"But it worked, that's all that matters," Energy smiled brightly. "I've got myself a boyfriend!"

"That is great, Energy," Kiku nodded to him, gathering himself and picking up his cup again to drink from it. He walked up to the window. "If you would like to come in, I wouldn't mind."

"Nah, I've gotta make rounds before doing homework and shit," Energy shrugged. One thing he really liked about Kiku was that he understood that he was a real person, a kid (Kiku had managed to figure out Gilbert's age) that had real shit to do, not just be a hero all the time. Gilbert had to do homework and hang out with friends. "Then I'll do rounds again, maybe I'll see you later tonight. You still watching that gay swimming anime?" Kiku was also obsessed with anime and he actually got Gilbert interested in some (though juggling school, crime fighting, friends, and anime was very hard…he usually skipped the school part to replace it with anime when necessary).

"You don't have to call it that," Kiku blushed slightly and Energy smirked. "And no, I finished that this morning. At least, what's out of the second season."

"Awesome," Energy nodded. "I figured I should stop by and tell you how it went. Your advice is the best in New York!"

"I am glad that I can help," Kiku nodded. "You should be careful, as always. It wouldn't be good for you to get hurt. Especially now that you have someone to protect."

"Whaddya mean?" Energy asked, leaning a little further on the windowsill.

"I have seen the movies they make of this," Kiku smiled softly, though a little ruefully. "A hero falls in love and that tends to be a downfall. Their enemies find the love interest and use them to their advantage. You have to keep him safe now."

"This isn't a movie," Energy rolled his eyes. "And no one even knows who I am, let alone who I'm into. It'll all be fine, don't be so paranoid." And then Energy was off, making sure that the streets were safe from purse snatchers and robbers. Gilbert couldn't get himself to stop thinking about Matthew's adorable, blushing face.

* * *

"_What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?!"_

"_I am sorry."_

"_Damn right you are! What progress have you made here?! I'm wasting precious time and money on your bullshit! Either get me Energy soon or I will have you and your girlfriend fired."_

"_Yes, Mr-"_

"_Don't fucking say my name. Ever. We went over this before. You don't say names, just in case someone's listening. Idiot…"_

"_Yes, boss."_

"_You don't take breaks without my say. You don't leave this building without me being informed of it, understood?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Find a fucking way to get Energy. I want that freak dead as soon as possible. You said it had an interest in that Matthew kid. Get him if that's what it takes."_

"_We haven't received permission to follow him to see who he interacts with. He is human, we can't do anything."_

"_Make him mutant, for all I fucking care. Get me Energy, no matter what it takes to do it. So what if we get rid of a human here and there in the process? We're making the world a better place for the rest."_

"_Yes, sir."_

"_Now, don't sit there like a useless fuck and get to work. I have to deal with my brother."_

* * *

**And new voice! One of those voices (not the boss) is one of the voices from before, the other is the boss of the operation, and he's a little pissy. And Kiku is here! I love him so much and I was going to have him as a student, but I love him in this role, honestly. He'll do great things later, don't worry. For now, he's a guy in an apartment Gilbert goes to for advice. And PruCan's a thing. Thanks to Kiku, the genius yaoi fan that he is. (Yes, I referenced Free!, don't judge me.) And Alfred's avoiding Ivan, how interesting…**

**Please review! It's great! And awesome!**


	8. Current Events

Matthew tapped his foot as he stood in the familiar elevator as it moved upwards. It had been a week since the…"first" kiss at school, a week since Matthew and Gilbert had started dating. Gilbert seemed to enjoy the fact that he could just pull Matthew into a kiss whenever he felt like it, even if it got the two in trouble. Alfred heard about it and first complained about the fact that Matthew didn't tell him anything, and then complained about the fact that Matthew had decided to go out with _Gilbert_, of all people. But Matthew tiptoed past that easily enough. Alfred was mostly busy with avoiding Ivan like the plague anyway.

Currently, however, Matthew was going to Gilbert's penthouse for a very specific reason. Not to be swept away with kisses or anything else. No, this was serious. They had an English project due in a few days and Matthew had no way to access the internet for it. So they would have to do this project at Gilbert's place and this was one of the few days Matthew didn't have hockey or work. The elevator made a small ding as soon as it stopped moving and the doors opened to reveal the vast penthouse. It was just as clean as the day after the party and it left Matthew wondering just how much the maids cleaned this place.

There was a maid in front of him when he stepped off the elevator and the door closed and she bowed respectfully to him, making Matthew feel slightly awkward.

"Good day, sir," the maid said and smiled warmly at him. "May I ask your business with the Beilschmidt family?"

"I'm here to see Gilbert," Matthew mumbled and the maid nodded before scurrying off. Matthew wasn't quite sure if he should stay where he was, so he did what his instincts told him and stayed put, feet shuffling on the expensive tile underneath him. It managed to escape his mind a lot that Gilbert was this rich, considering the way he acted. Ludwig, too. They both acted like regular people, completely unlike the rich kids that Matthew imagined he would meet when he first came to their school.

"Birdie!" Gilbert shouted and Matthew heard him running from further down the hallway. He braced himself and was quickly picked up into a hug and spun around. Gilbert loved to show affection, especially if they were in private. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Well, we were paired up for a project, weren't we?" Matthew chuckled as he was set down and regained his balance quickly. Gilbert's smile fell and he let out a groan.

"Is that seriously the only reason you're here?" Gilbert whined. "That's so not awesome!"

"Maybe if we get it done soon, we could celebrate by doing something else," Matthew shrugged with a smirk as he walked further into the penthouse. He didn't exactly know where he was going, but Gilbert quickly took the lead and started down a hallway Matthew didn't recognize.

"Like…?" Gilbert raised an eyebrow, turning around so he was walking backwards.

"I think I'll leave that to your imagination for a while," Matthew smirked and Gilbert laughed before turning around again and going up to a door that he opened dramatically.

"You shouldn't leave it there too long, Birdie," Gilbert laughed and motioned for Matthew to go in first. Matthew nodded in thanks before entering and stopped in his tracks when he saw the room. It was huge and filled with desks, computers sitting on top of all of them, some with laptops as well, though most of them were closed.

"Why do you have so many?" Matthew wondered out loud.

"Eh, sometimes mein vater is home," Gilbert shrugged. "When he is, he likes to get a bunch of his business guys to do shit and it's easy if they're all in the same room or something. And this shit's more secure than what's at the office building he's never at, so they use this a lot. But things like that happen maybe three times a year, so I mostly have it to myself." Gilbert smirked as he ran for a rolling desk chair and landed in it so hard that it slid all the way across the room. "It's fucking awesome, right? I can play a game or some shit on one screen and try to focus on school work on the other, but that doesn't usually work out so well."

"I know that part," Matthew smirked. "I've seen your progress report in homeroom."

"Oi!" Gilbert whined playfully. "I try my best!"

"I'm sure," Matthew rolled his eyes and walked towards Gilbert, who was at one desk with two computers that he was currently booting up.

"Whatever," Gilbert smirked. "This project is just a PowerPoint, right? That's easy as fuck, let's just slap the slideshow together and do some other shit. I don't wanna have to worry about this for too long. Why are you here just for this, anyway? Don't you have a computer at home or something?"

"No," Matthew shook his head and sat down on the office chair beside Gilbert, watching the screen flicker to life. This computer had apparently already been used before, as an internet browser was still up. It was on a news website, talking about a story that Matthew had seen on the news earlier. Energy had come to save the day, but the story that was up on the screen was from before Energy came to the rescue, while the robbery was in progress. Odd… "We don't have internet or computers."

"What the hell do you guys do for fun, then?" Gilbert asked as he pulled up the PowerPoint program. He glanced at Matthew's screen and swiftly rolled over to turn the browser to Google. "You can do the research bits and I'll put the shit on here."

Matthew nodded. "We have cable," Matthew shrugged and started to look up information on the current event that their teacher had them researching. The teacher had every pair of students looking up a different one and Matthew wasn't really looking forward to the presentations. It was obvious that no one was taking this project seriously, not even him. "And I don't really have a lot of spare time, outside of work and hockey and school. Alfred, I'm not so sure about. He's been ditching classes a lot recently."

"Last I heard, he was avoiding Ivan, good on him," Gilbert shrugged as Matthew clicked on a website. It seemed reliable enough by a first glance, so Matthew started looking through it.

"Ivan's not that bad," Matthew rolled his eyes. "And I have no idea why Alfred's avoiding him, too. At least at first, he just hated him, he wasn't skipping classes for the mere purpose of not seeing him again."

"Let them figure their own shit out," Gilbert shrugged, reading over Matthew's shoulder for a second. "Wait, is that really what our topic was?"

"Yes," Matthew nodded slowly. "Did you not pay attention in class?"

"I've mastered the art of sleeping with my eyes open," Gilbert laughed. "You'd be amazed how many classes I'm sleeping through."

"Gilbert!" Matthew hit the back of Gilbert's head.

"What?" Gilbert pouted slightly.

"Pay attention in class," Matthew muttered and turned back to the matter at hand. "Next time I notice you sleeping, I'll wake you up myself."

"You can't do that," Gilbert whined. "How else am I supposed to get my sleep?"

"Go to bed at night like a normal person?" Matthew rolled his eyes.

"You say that like it's easy," Gilbert grumbled, but started typing onto the PowerPoint with some of the information they'd already gathered.

They continued their project and research for maybe another hour, Gilbert constantly attempting to distract Matthew by doing things like blowing in his ear or stealing a kiss every now and then and Matthew simply rolled his eyes and continued working. He was getting harder and harder to distract at this point.

"Let's get something to eat!" Gilbert announced suddenly, standing up and gripping onto Matthew's arm to pull him out of the room. Matthew couldn't get out of his grip and so allowed himself to be dragged out of the room and towards the kitchen, which Matthew noticed, Ludwig was cleaning.

* * *

Energy easily ducked out of the way of a bullet aimed at him and put up a wall behind him, to ensure that none of this guy's buddies got the same idea, to try to shoot him. He had to think through this one carefully, this man just escaped from prison a few days ago and he was definitely sure that he wouldn't be going back. He'd already killed a few cops that tried to take him into custody, which was why Energy was using this time, where Gilbert would normally sleep, to take the man down. Luckily, on that day, Gilbert had found that he had his temporary x-ray vision at his disposal (Matthew had become a target of many long looks), so he glanced around, peering through walls and ignoring how he could see through the clothing of the men around him.

Another gunshot alerted Energy to where this man was hiding and he ran for him, keeping himself covered with his energy box to ensure he didn't get hurt. The people behind him were firing rapidly now, but Energy ignored them, using his strength through his feet to get himself to run faster. The men behind him stopped to reload their pistols and Energy smirked, dropping his cover as he turned a corner quickly. The man was completely caught off guard and attempted to shoot at Energy, but the hero was quicker, placing a box around the man and trapping him inside with his gun, which would be useless in freeing him.

"Awesome," Energy mumbled to himself and raised his hand up, the box following it perfectly. The box was maybe 10 feet in the air when Energy turned back around the corner and saw the two men, a lot closer, aiming their guns at him. "You even think about pulling that trigger and I'll drop him without a second thought. Got that?"

Sirens blared in the background and the dark alleyways that surrounded them began to light up with red and blue. They were at some kind of warehouse location with multiple warehouses. Energy didn't really care, as long as he got the bad guy. The two men slowly dropped their guns, hands up in the air.

"Get on the ground and wait for the police to come," Energy ordered them and the two men shakily complied. The police came running in, all of them holding guns and prepared for a fight. They were useless before, stuck behind their own cars as the men fired their guns at them in hopes to kill them. Then Energy came on the scene and saved all of their asses. About five of them went to the two men on the ground and cuffed them, saying their rights as they led them to the nearest car. "You're welcome," Gilbert said happily to a police officer as he carefully set the man who'd escaped from prison on to the ground, keeping the box up. The man still had a gun and they had to be careful with that.

A lot of police officers looked at him with disdain, some because he was a mutant and some because he was a vigilante and sometimes went against them. There were a few that stared at him with admiration. But the looks didn't last long. They circled around the box, guns poised at the man, who saw no way out, valuing his own life and setting his own gun down. He kicked it away at the request of a police officer. Energy allowed the box to disappear around the man and he was swiftly arrested, placed into a different car than his accomplices, and they were all driven away.

A few police officers gave him thanks and some just walked away, not sparing Energy a second glance. Energy just smirked and ran off, quickly jumping onto his own energy boxes to get himself higher in the air. If he was lucky, he could run home now and be able to actually be more awake the next time he saw Matthew. It was way too often when Gilbert would be tired when he was around Matthew. He just wanted to enjoy it sometime, fully awake.

* * *

"_There's no need to be upset."_

"_I'm trying! I can't do anything! He's breathing down my neck and we still can't get anything on Energy and we can't do anything to Matthew due to the fact that he's human. There's nothing we can do!"_

"_Take a deep breath. In and out. There, just like that. It'll be alright. We can figure this out. Within a few weeks, alright? Mutants that go out as superheroes are the hardest ones to get to, but they're a better target, right? Isn't that what you were talking about when we accepted this job?"_

"_I didn't expect it to be this difficult. Our hands are tied, all we can do is watch Energy as he fights and hope he slips up and gives us something on his identity."_

"_Well, we know he goes to Hetalia Academy. We know, then, that he is most likely rich, and that he is an upperclassman, based on simply what we can see. That is a lead of some kind. Here, let me look up a roster. We can look through the kids and see if any of them have a match to Energy."_

"_To what end? What if, like his hair and eyes, he has more on him? Like makeup that would make his face look different? This is pointless, we need something more than guessing games if we want to get anywhere."_

"_It's okay, I believe in you. The boss won't do anything to you, you're one of his most valuable people. We both are. Let's just take this slow and figure it out."_

* * *

**The heat's coming down on the two voices. Yes, those are the two original ones and we still don't know who they are, how interesting. Anyway, we got a little bit of PruCan fluff and a little bit of Energy fighting. In any case, this appears to be mostly filler chapter, but their bonding moments are important. Don't worry, I'll have a little more plot move next chapter. I need things to happen before other things happen, so don't worry, things will be happening.**

**By the way, to clear things up, to me at least, x-ray vision is when you can look through a layer. Like, if you're looking at a person with clothes on, it's the ability to see through to the skin. If it's bare skin, you can look to their bones. If it's a building, you can see through a wall. Simple things like that. Just to clear things up.**

**Please review! It's great and kind and all that good stuff!**


	9. Alone With Crazy

Everyone was laughing. Someone had made a joke and everyone was laughing. Matthew laughed with them, but he was simply too distracted to hear the joke. Alfred was sitting on the opposite side of the table, against the far wall of the cafeteria. Matthew glanced back again and saw Ivan, sitting only with his sister. Matthew had to admit that the rumors were a littler correct with Natalia, she was scary beyond belief and she was scaring away any person that dared attempt to sit near the two of them. Supposedly, Ivan had an older sister as well, but she had already graduated. Matthew noticed Ivan looking over almost constantly, but Alfred was making a point not to look over at him.

"I'll be back," Matthew mumbled, not knowing if he had interrupted someone in the middle of a conversation or not. Gilbert raised an eyebrow, but unhooked his arm around Matthew's waist, allowing him to stand up. Matthew swiftly traversed the cafeteria, only bumping into a few people here and there, before he sat back down at the table Ivan and Natalia were at, directly across from them. Natalia glared icy daggers at him, but Matthew decided to look at Ivan instead. "Hey."

"Hello, Matvey," Ivan smiled, though Matthew noticed that he was a little nervous, most likely because of Natalia. From what Matthew saw, he was a little intimidated by his sister.

"I don't mean to pry," Matthew mumbled, "but I've noticed that…something's going on between you and Alfred." Natalia scoffed at the name and Ivan nodded just slightly, resting his head in his hand.

"I do not quite understand it," Ivan muttered.

"Well, I want to help both of you," Matthew offered. "I can give you our address and you can stop by later, alright? I'll make sure Alfred's there."

"Why do you want to help me?" Ivan asked. "You are not involved with this."

"I'm getting tired of dealing with Alfred being a brat about all of this," Matthew sighed. "And I think it's stupid that he's avoiding you for whatever stupid reason he has. I mean, if you don't want to do this and want to figure it out a different way, that's fine."

"Nyet," Ivan shook his head. "That would be very helpful of you, Matvey."

"What is going on between you and Alfred, brother?" Natalia pressed, still sending Matthew glares every now and then. "Does this have something to do with the day he ran from the house?"

"Da," I van said and then muttered something else in Russian that Natalia simply nodded to and stayed quiet. "You should return to the others, they seem to be very worried for you."

Matthew sighed and glanced back to where everyone else was. All of them, except Alfred, were taking turns glancing over, as if making sure Matthew was still safe. "Yeah, they're just stupid like that, don't worry. If you want, I could stay with you guys during lunch." Ivan smiled at that and Matthew felt a very rough kick on his shin that he winced at. It was nothing compared to the pain he got during hockey.

"I think we should sit alone, brother," Natalia said, clinging to Ivan's arm. "It was very peaceful before he came."

"Matvey is not one to disrupt peace," Ivan smiled at her and Natalia scowled at Matthew. "It would be nice to have you stay."

Matthew simply nodded with a smile, despite the fact that he was kicked again by a heeled boot. His shin would definitely be bruised by the end of this, but it would be fine. Ivan was his friend, after all, no one could make him not hang out with him. About halfway through lunch, however, Matthew was surprised. Gilbert waltzed over and happily slumped down next to Matthew, in front of where Natalia was sitting. For once, a kick wasn't aimed at Matthew and Gilbert visibly winced.

"Fucker," Gilbert grumbled quietly before looking at the three around him. "So…what's up?"

"Oh, um," Matthew mumbled, unsure of what to do. He wasn't sure if Gilbert and Ivan knew each other, though the glare that Gilbert was sending to him, only to be greeted by a smile, clued Matthew in slightly. "Ivan, this is-"

"I know Gilbert, Matvey," Ivan smiled warmly and Gilbert's glare grew colder.

"You should not look at brother like that," Natalia grumbled and kicked Gilbert again and Gilbert cursed again, moving his legs hopefully out of Natalia's reach.

"Whatever," Gilbert rolled his eyes. "I saw you three being all alone and unawesome and I thought that I could make it more awesome by joining your group."

"You don't have to, Gil," Matthew mumbled.

"Ah, I want to, Birdie," Gilbert smirked, messing up Matthew's hair slightly. "So what were you guys talking about before I came? Don't wanna disrupt the conversation or anything."

"Matvey and I were just discussing hockey," Ivan said. Matthew noticed that his usual forced smile was even more forced than before. Maybe he and Gilbert had an equal dislike for each other, he just wasn't showing it. Matthew had to wonder as to why, though. It couldn't just be because Matthew was there. "Something you do not understand much, da?"

"I…get the gist of it," Gilbert muttered and Matthew scoffed. The only reason Gilbert knew what he did about hockey was because Matthew talked about it a lot. "Shut it, Birdie."

"Sure, whatever you say," Matthew smirked.

"This one has a habit of disrupting peace, brother," Natalia pressed and kicked Gilbert again, this time apparently a lot harder, as Gilbert groaned, eyes closed for a second.

"So, what about hockey?" Gilbert asked through gritted teeth.

They somehow managed to make it through the lunch period with Gilbert only getting a few bruises. Ivan kept his fake smile on as best he could and Natalia made several points at how they should be alone. Eventually, the bell rang and everyone started going to class. Gilbert was limping slightly, complaining about the fact that his right leg "hurt like a bitch".

* * *

Matthew smiled to himself in the kitchen. Everything was perfectly set up and he was actually pretty proud of this meal. He knew just how to keep Alfred in the apartment and that was to make burgers for dinner. Matthew had made sure that he had all of the toppings Alfred could possibly want and he was about ready to start, he just wanted to wait for a certain special guest to come before he really got started. Hee continued to check in the kitchen to ensure everything was in its place, the news droning on from the TV. Alfred was in his room, shouting at some kind of video game, Matthew was sure. Suddenly, the news stopped droning and the newscasters sounded excited, one with happiness and the other with anger. Energy was on the scene of a huge fire. He was helping people get out safely.

There was a knock on their door and Matthew scurried to it, opening it to find Ivan smiling in the hallway.

"You do not live in very good quarters, do you?" Ivan asked, looking into the small apartment as Matthew closed the door behind him.

"Well, Mom and Dad left behind a lot of money for school and emergencies, not a lot for housing and food," Matthew shrugged, blushing slightly when he realized he'd said something about his parents. "Anyway, Alfred's in his room. If you want to stay for dinner, I'm making hamburgers and I can make some for you, too."

"I am not sure if I will be staying that long," Ivan sighed slightly as Matthew started leading him to Alfred's room. The door was closed, thankfully.

"Well, good luck, then," Matthew offered his best smile and opened the door for Ivan. As soon as he entered, Matthew shut the door and leaned all of his weight against it to ensure Alfred couldn't get out, even if he tried.

"Fuck!" Alfred screamed and there was a very loud thud that Matthew was sure their lower neighbors would complain about shortly. When he listened closely, around Alfred's screaming and shouting for help and anger, he could hear Alfred moving around his room as fast as he could. After about five minutes, Matthew figured he could give them privacy without Alfred making a run for it out of the room and moved a little further into the living room, where the news was still being broadcasted.

The camera was following Energy as he ran into the building but Matthew narrowed his eyes to focus on something that he noticed. Energy was limping, almost like his right leg was injured. Matthew shook his head. It had to be a coincidence. But there were a lot of coincidences recently that made it a little suspicious. He would have to think of something about that as well.

Suddenly, another loud sound came from Alfred's room, but this time it wasn't shouted. It was a sound of…pleasure? With a red face, Matthew turned the TV up a little more before he ducked back into the kitchen to start making the burgers that he knew Alfred would greedily eat. He would be angry with Matthew, so the best way to make up for it would be do give him a pile of hamburgers for dinner. It usually worked.

Just about when the hamburgers were done cooking, Ivan finally came out of the room with a small hum. Matthew noticed that he had a bruised jaw as well as extremely messed up hair. He appeared to be favoring his left side as he smiled at Matthew.

"Thank you, Matvey, I think we cleared that up very well," Ivan gave a genuine smile before he left. One other thing Matthew noticed when he looked closer was the slightly bruised lips that he had. Ivan left the apartment without another word and Matthew was left to wonder what had happened.

A few minutes later, Alfred finally came out. Bruising was beginning to form around his right eye and he had a nasty bruise coming on his cheek He was wearing a jacket now, unlike when he went into his room previously, and water was dripping from his hair like he was sweating. His lips were bruised as well.

"What the fuck, Mattie?" Alfred demanded. "What made you think that was a good idea?"

"The fact that it seemed to work?" Matthew shrugged before motioning towards the plate that was now filled with cooked burger patties. "Burger?"

"That makes up for nothing!" Alfred whined. "You locked me in a room with a maniac!"

"Technically, you could have gotten out whenever you wanted to, I wasn't holding the door down for very long," Matthew shrugged. "Are you sure you don't want any?"

"I never said I didn't want any," Alfred crossed his arms over his chest like a toddler. Matthew noticed that Alfred was wearing the jacket that hid a lot of his neck, but when Alfred moved just slightly, Matthew could see something on Alfred's neck, almost like a growing bruise… "And Ivan made damn sure that I didn't leave."

"Did you guys at least talk out your problems?" Matthew asked as Alfred angrily started filling his plate with burgers, grabbing buns and pouring on levels of condiments as he went along.

"That's none of your fucking business," Alfred grumbled.

"That hickey on your neck says that it went well," Matthew smirked before ducking into the living room.

"He punched me in the neck!" Alfred shouted. "That's not a hickey! Matt, I swear, if you breathe a word of this to anyone, I'll kill you!"

"Try it," Matthew laughed as Alfred poked his head around the corner and into the kitchen with a glare. "I'm stronger than you think."

"One word," Alfred muttered. "And you're so dead, bro."

"Sure," Matthew snorted, rolling his eyes. He really had no plans to tell anyone in the first place, he couldn't just spread secrets around like that. He did hope, really, that this fixed whatever was going on between Alfred and Ivan. If it could get Alfred to go to homeroom, then this idea was a good one. Matthew looked back at the news. The reporter on the scene was trying to get an interview with Energy, but the hero was running off on his energy constructs. His limp was still there, though not extremely obvious. Matthew hummed.

* * *

"_He's limping. That's good news, right?"_

"_I don't understand why we can't just take him as a hero. I don't understand why we have to find his secret identity first."_

"_Well, mutations are generally genetic, so it would be good to know his family to ensure no one else is mutated."_

"_We can find his secret identity after we take him! I would think that the boss would understand how this is much more difficult for us to accomplish."_

"_Just calm down and think about it, dear. As a hero, he's always on guard, ready to fight. If we find him as a human, he won't be prepared, it will be easy to take him. We could also know his weaknesses, how to get him to agree to what we want by threatening what matters to him. It's easier to get him into custody. Also, when he's a hero, not a lot of people think of him as a freak. If they see him as a human and we take him away, think about all of the people that will be happy to see a hidden freak go away for good."_

"_We also don't have the resources to be able to take down a hero in public without drawing attention to ourselves. I understand. With him breathing down my neck, though, I can't do anything. He wants Energy now, so it would be better to take Energy than to take his secret identity."_

"_The boss understands that it will take time, he's just slightly impatient. I'm not sure where his hatred for the mutants comes from. Now, let's focus on the fact that Energy has a limp. We can use that to our advantage. I also just recently got the roster of the upper classmen at the school, so we can start looking through that to compare."_

* * *

**Surprise middle of the week update! Because you guys are so nice and gave me 5 reviews last chapter and I feel special! And I had nothing else to do today!**

**T****hose poor voices have so much pressure on them, I almost feel bad. But I know who they are and what they're doing, so it makes me feel a little better. Anyway, Alfred and Ivan have hopefully worked out their shit, you don't know yet, and Gilbert and Ivan have had vague conversation. Shit's getting real, guys. Hopefully a little more plot soon, we'll find out.**

**Please review! It's very kind!**


	10. Sleep Over

"Please Birdie?" Gilbert whined in Matthew's ear during homeroom. Matthew simply rolled his eyes and continued to attempt to finish the homework he couldn't get done thanks to his job. It was just reading through a textbook, but a simple task like that was proving to be extremely difficult with Gilbert shouting in his hear, demanding attention. "C'mon!" And then, suddenly, Gilbert appeared to get an idea. He leaned very close to Matthew's face and slowly and casually licked the side of Matthew's face, from near the chin up to the temple. Matthew froze.

"Wh-wh-what was that?" Matthew snapped, glaring at Gilbert. His face felt like it was on fire and the cackle he got from Gilbert told Matthew that he was most likely a bright red. "Gilbert!"

"Sorry, that was fucking great!" Gilbert held onto his stomach, he was laughing so hard. Matthew simply scoffed and rolled his eyes. But there was still a small smile on his face as he used the sleeve of his jacket to rid his face of Gilbert's saliva. Gilbert's laughing also attracted nearly all of the attention in homeroom. Ivan appeared mildly interested while Alfred half-heartedly glared at Gilbert while he talked to Feli. Alfred and Ivan were in the same room, which was always a good thing, but it didn't look like they talked at all.

"What did you even want?" Matthew mumbled, turning his eyes to the textbook, but not his attention. It wasn't like he was reading the textbook with Gilbert around in the first place.

"A sleepover," Gilbert said proudly and Matthew paused for a moment before giving Gilbert a questioning look. "Okay, hear me out. You come over to my place, we have an awesome, romantic dinner, watch some kind of movie shit and we cuddle because we're fucking awesome and then we go to sleep. It's not like tomorrow's a school day and Alfred told me you aren't even working, so it'd be a perfect opportunity."

"I have a feeling you already have some of it set up so if I was to say no…" Matthew sighed as Gilbert smirked. "What else did Alfred tell you?"

"Eh, simple shit, like you're favorite food and kind of movie," Gilbert shrugged. "Should've known it before, but whatever, it's ingrained in my brain now. So, whaddya say?"

"If you've already asked Alfred about it, I'm sure he's already got plans to have guests over," Matthew chuckled slightly, glancing over at Alfred, who he managed to catch glancing at Ivan. It could have been easily mistaken for a glare, but Matthew was beginning to learn the difference, especially with those two nearly constantly at each other's throats. "Why not?"

"Awesome!" Gilbert cheered and pulled Matthew into a hug. "You won't regret it, I swear! You and I can meet up with West after school to wait for the car, that alright?"

"Sure," Matthew nodded slowly. It would be weird to "wait for the car" since Matthew had never actually owned a car in his life; his parents didn't either. They believed in walking around to get places or taking the bus or train if it was absolutely necessary. Thanks to the…incident…Matthew avoided trains like the plague now. But a car would be interesting. He and Alfred always made fun of the rich kids coming and going in limos when they walked in and out of school, but it would be different to be one of those kids.

"Okay, so we can go home and play video games or watch a movie or some shit until dinner and I'm making sure that the dinner's gonna be fucking perfect," Gilbert said excitedly, going off a checklist in his head out loud. Matthew laughed slightly. "And we could swim or some shit or whatever the hell you want."

The bell rang above them and Gilbert pulled him through the halls, still talking about everything that would happen that night. Matthew just laughed and shook his head. Even during lunch, he was going on and on about it. When Francis suggested that they should try seeing how "far" they could get, Gilbert hit him and Francis whined for the rest of the day.

* * *

Gilbert leaned against the wall of the elevator and Matthew stood beside him while Ludwig stood close to the door. Gilbert was chatting aimlessly, had been chatting since they had started waiting for the car. Ludwig occasionally put in his two cents, but other than that, had remained quiet.

"And I'm only, like 5 levels away from getting this fucking sick weapon," Gilbert was talking about some kind of video game he got a few days ago. "Once I get that shit, I'll be pretty much unstoppable and it'll be so easy to breeze through the levels."

"Cool," Matthew smiled and Gilbert continued until the elevator stopped and opened with a small ding to the penthouse. Gilbert stopped in the middle of what he was saying and pulled Matthew inside by the wrist. Matthew dragged a small duffle bag beside him, as they had stopped by Matthew's apartment for Matthew to get a few things like clothes. It was a little embarrassing to have someone rich see the outside of his little apartment, but Gilbert didn't seem to mind that much. They narrowly went around Ludwig and Gilbert pulled Matthew into his room, taking the bag and tossing it to the floor beside the bed.

"So, what do you want to do? We can do anything you want," Gilbert chimed happily.

"I really don't care," Matthew shrugged and Gilbert crossed his arms over his chest, feigning impatience. "Seriously, Gil. We can do whatever you want to do. We could play that game you were talking about or watch a movie or whatever. It doesn't matter to me."

"If you're going to say that line, at least say it right," Gilbert said. "It's supposed to be, all that matters is that I'm around you."

"Sure," Matthew snorted. Gilbert hummed before gripping onto Matthew's wrist again and swiftly pulling him out of the room and back into the living room. It was gray outside, just beginning to drizzle, and Gilbert messed with a switch on the wall that made all of the windows in the room black out, a light above them shining to give them light.

"Since you're being lame and not deciding, we're gonna watch a movie," Gilbert said, going to one of the massive cabinets around the huge TV, which was evidently filled completely with DVDs. "After it's done, it'll be time for dinner and we can decide what to do next after that." Matthew laughed slightly before sitting down on the comfortable couch. "Oi, don't think that you can just sit down and make me decide what movie we're watching. What do you wanna watch? Anything we don't have on DVD, we have online and I can get it up there. So, whatever the hell you wanna watch."

"What do you want to watch?" Matthew hummed happily.

"Nein," Gilbert sighed. "You decide." Matthew laughed slightly. He really didn't care what they watched, but Gilbert was so intent on this being about Matthew.

"Fine," Matthew hummed. "How about…Jumanji?"

"Do you want to make me cry?" Gilbert pouted slightly, but swiftly went to the universal remote and pulling up some program that looked like it held over a thousand movies on it. Gilbert quickly pulled up the movie and then ran over to the light switch again. Matthew couldn't help but snicker at how fast he was moving all the time.

"Are you in a hurry or something?" Matthew laughed and Gilbert rolled his eyes before turning off the lights, leaving the whole room completely black. Gilbert jumped onto the couch, making Matthew jump slightly, before nestling beside Matthew and pressing the start button. It wasn't long before Matthew was leaning against Gilbert, head resting on Gilbert's shoulder. He felt fairly happy, Gilbert's arm wrapped around him. He felt…secure. Safe. He smiled as he watched the movie with Gilbert, who made odd comments here and there when he couldn't stand it being quiet for too long.

After a while, a very familiar smell wafted through the room and Matthew's attention immediately left the movie. That was the smell of pancakes. Gilbert simply laughed when he noticed Matthew divert his attention from the movie and told him to wait.

Despite how Matthew felt about having maids do everything for him, the pancakes were actually extremely delicious (still not as good as his own) and Gilbert just laughed at how excited Matthew was about it. They watched another movie, they stood by the pool while it rained, Matthew pushed Gilbert into the pool while it rained, they shared a kiss in the rain.

Gilbert still seemed ready to go, even as Matthew yawned and leaned against him when they were watching some random TV show in the living room. Matthew hadn't really been getting much sleep in the first place and so he was very tired. Gilbert, obviously seeing this, carefully lead Matthew back to his room and left just long enough for Matthew to get changed.

"You don't have to go to sleep now if you don't want to," Matthew mumbled, yawning for the tenth time in ten minutes while he sat on one side of the large bed.

"Cuddling's awesome," Gilbert commented with a proud smile as he flopped onto his back on the bed. "You should know that by now."

"Of course," Matthew chuckled slightly and slowly crawled into bed. Gilbert crawled in after him and quickly pulled him close so their foreheads were touching. Matthew blushed slightly at how close they were, but still smiled slightly and gave Gilbert a short peck on the lips. "Thank you for all of this. It was fun."

"No problem, Birdie," Gilbert smiled. "Anything for you."

The lights were already out and Matthew closed his eyes. He wasn't conscious for long, swiftly drifting into sleep with Gilbert right beside him. There was one moment, however, when Matthew's sleep was interrupted. There were bright lights and he could guess they were from Gilbert watching TV and he happily ignored it, falling back into his slumber. Again, he was woken up by movement on the bed, which he guessed was from Gilbert moving in his sleep; the light was still on. He barely felt something touch his head when he fell back asleep.

* * *

Finally, Matthew's eyes opened once again, but this time his mind simply wouldn't let him go to sleep again. He sat there for maybe 15 minutes trying to fall back to sleep, but it wasn't going to happen. So, Matthew slowly sat up, his eyes greeted by the bright light of the TV still. He glanced over to where Gilbert had been and found that the bed was rather empty. Maybe he had just gone to the bathroom or something. Matthew glanced at the TV and struggled to focus with his glasses on the bedside table. It was a news story. Energy had just come and helped the police with a massive drugs bust in an abandoned warehouse. That explained why Gilbert was off to the bathroom.

Matthew sighed and picked up his glasses, already resigning himself to the fact that there was no chance he would fall back asleep any time soon. He continued to watch the news, but then something odd happened. That one window he had accidentally opened the day after the party suddenly swung open and Matthew jumped slightly. The windows were blacked out so he couldn't see anything on the other side, but then he saw a person tumble into the floor, obviously attempting to be quiet, illuminated only by the TV.

The person slowly stood upright, showing the familiar red gloves, boots, and mask that definitely belonged to Energy, completely soaked by the rain outside. Considering the fact that he had managed to climb through the window of a penthouse, it could only be Energy and Matthew's eyes went wide. Energy finally locked eyes with him and froze in place. It was quiet, aside from the news, for about a minute before one of them spoke up.

"Fuck."

* * *

**I finally got around to referencing Robin Williams, may he rest in peace. He was a great man and I'll miss him so much. However, I don't plan on depressing people, so I will get onto the story. I really needed an excuse for Matthew to stay the night, so Gilbert came up with the plan of having him stay over for shits and gigs and it worked out alright. Alfred needed the apartment for himself for some "alone time" anyway. And gasp! What is Energy doing crawling through Gilbert's window? If this had been a mystery where no one knew who Energy was, this would have been a big reveal…**

**Anyway, please review! It's very kind of you!**


	11. Revealed

Energy was frozen in place. He felt like he couldn't breathe. He'd just left for a bit, Matthew was fast asleep, he made sure. He would just sneak out and sneak back in so he could save the day and Matthew would never know. This was it; Matthew was going to hate him. He knew Gilbert was a mutant now, he'd never want to touch him again. This was all because Gilbert had been so stupid and thought he could pull this off. Ludwig said it was a stupid idea to have Matthew stay through the night.

"Look I-"

"Gilbert?" Matthew cut him off, looking at him in confusion. He slowly reached over to the nightstand to pick up his glasses and put them on.

Gilbert took a deep breath. He could easily try to deny everything, but that would risk pissing off Matthew and Gilbert really didn't want to risk that. With a sigh, Gilbert simply nodded.

"If you're…mad," Gilbert muttered, looking at his own feet, "or…disgusted, you can just-"

"Why would I be mad?" Matthew asked calmly, getting out of the bed and walking around it until he was standing in front of Gilbert.

"Well…you know…" Gilbert shrugged uselessly. Matthew was taking this a lot better than he thought. Or maybe Matthew was just keeping it in, Gilbert couldn't really tell. He did look really calm, though. "Mutant."

Matthew smiled slightly and it was adorable, even in the lack of light around them. "Energy is more than just a mutant, in my eyes at least. He's a hero. Why would I be mad? Sure, I mean, now I'm a little more concerned for your safety considering how many times you get hit and nearly shot…"

Gilbert couldn't stop himself from laughing, holding onto his stomach and kneeling over slightly.

"And you should really hide it better," Matthew muttered as Gilbert continued to laugh. "I mean, I was even starting to guess it myself. I'm surprised no one else has."

"You're fucking awesome, Birdie," Gilbert smirked, placing his gloved hand on Matthew's shoulder. Matthew rolled his eyes.

"I've never thought that mutants were bad people," Matthew sighed. "Unless they've done something bad. You haven't stolen or anything, have you?"

"Never," Gilbert smiled. "Do you think I really have a need to?"

"Of course not," Matthew chuckled before leaning forward. Gilbert leaned forward as well and their lips met perfectly, as always. Matthew was quick to deepen it and Gilbert could barely feel his hands threading through the hair of the wig before starting to do something on the back of Gilbert's head. It was only a matter of time before Gilbert's mask came off, untied. Gilbert smirked into the kiss as Matthew's hands moved underneath the wig to touch Gilbert's real hair, carding his hands through it and pulling him closer. All the while, Gilbert's hands were on the nape of Matthew's neck.

When the finally pulled away, puffing air in each other's faces, Gilbert cracked another smile.

"So how does it feel to be dating a superhero?" Gilbert smirked.

"I really hope I don't turn out like the girls in the comics," Matthew joked half-heartedly.

"I'll never let that happen to you," Gilbert promised, resting his forehead on Matthew's. "So, how did you know this was a wig?"

"Because you have no hair die in your bathroom," Matthew laughed slightly. "Just little strands of black wig hair."

"Dammit," Gilbert muttered. "The maids should do a better job cleaning."

"Or you could try your hand at cleaning," Matthew shrugged and sat back down on the bed.

"You know, between school and fighting crime, I really can't find the time," Gilbert shrugged and sat beside his boyfriend. The news was still on and the newscaster had turned to asking passersby about their opinions on Energy. There were quite a few haters.

"Looks like you have a lot of time now," Matthew hummed.

"I dunno," Gilbert smiled. "I think I'm a little preoccupied with someone right now." Gilbert didn't even care that someone on the news just said that Energy should die. Matthew was right there, leaning his head on Gilbert's shoulder, tracing random things on Gilbert's hand over the glove. Why had he been so scared of this moment again?

They stayed up for a while, just talking while the news changed stories to the new baby tiger at the zoo and to the stock markets and then to the weather. Matthew started to yawn and Gilbert felt his eyelids begin to droop. They both moved back to their original positions on the bed, Gilbert only taking off his gloves and boots, not bothering to change, and they fell fast asleep. Gilbert had a nightmare.

* * *

"Al, I'm home!" Matthew called into the apartment, kicking off his shoes as he closed the door. He swiftly carried his bag back to his room and heard no response. It was about 3 in the afternoon, Alfred would definitely be awake by now, even if he did sleep in. Matthew sighed and walked over to Alfred's door after he put his bag down and noticed a little sticky note attached to the door. It was written in Alfred's familiar scrawl and Matthew quickly deciphered it.

_Out with friends smell ya later!_

"Friends meaning Ivan, I'd think," Matthew mumbled to himself, crumbling the note before tossing it in the trash in the kitchen. He quickly went about making himself a sandwich, feeling slightly hungry as he and Gilbert had elected to skip having lunch in favor of walking around New York for a few hours. Matthew still didn't know his way around very well, but Energy seemed to have a fantastic idea of where everything was.

While he was alone and the apartment was quiet, Matthew quickly went through the homework given to him the day before. It was easy, nothing major, and then he spent the remainder of his time alone to simply space out and watch TV. He was off that day and it felt amazing to get a chance to simply sit around and do nothing, not even think. Matthew wasn't even paying closer attention to what was on when Alfred finally walked through the door, a very happy smile on his face.

"Yo, little bro, you're alive," Alfred announced happily.

"I'm older, Al," Matthew said. "By a few hours, remember?"

"Pfft, you can say you're the big bro when you're bigger than me," Alfred laughed before slumping beside Matthew. "Whatcha watchin?"

"Stupid people," Matthew shrugged. It was one of those shows that just showed clips of people wiping out and causing a lot of physical pain to themselves and others. It was pretty funny, but Alfred was definitely laughing harder than him. Alfred was in a great mood. Matthew smirked slightly. "So, how was hanging out with Ivan?"

"Eh, it was alright, I mean he dragged me to a fucking horror movie and…" Alfred paused for a second before laughing loudly. "Well, I mean it was great, we all went to a move and I didn't hang out with Ivan. Why the hell would I hang out with that guy?"

"Whatever you say," Matthew snickered and Alfred pouted, glaring at him.

"You're not gonna tell anyone, are you?" Alfred asked.

"What about?" Matthew asked.

"The…thing, you know," Alfred shrugged.

"I'm sorry?" Matthew asked, forcing back laughter. He was going to get Alfred to say that there was something going on between him and Ivan, it just took a lot of effort when it was Alfred that was involved.

"With Ivan and stuff," Alfred mumbled, obviously uncomfortable.

"What about him?" Matthew asked. "I mean, there's a lot I can tell people about Ivan, since I hang out with him so much. What do you want me to not tell people?"

"That Ivan and I…" Alfred trailed off and Matthew barely held back more laughter.

"What about you guys?" Matthew asked.

"We're…uh…" Alfred scratched the back of his neck and Matthew noticed that his face was getting beet red. This was definitely worth it. "You know."

"I know what?" Matthew laughed.

"Mattie!" Alfred whined. "Don't make me say it!"

"How are you going to admit it to yourself if you can't admit it to me?" Matthew laughed even harder and Alfred slumped further into the couch beside him.

"Admit what?" Alfred grumbled. "I hate the creep."

"I think it's interesting how you can get hickeys from someone you hate," Matthew laughed.

"Wait, you can see them?" Alfred groaned, putting up the hood from his jacket to cover his head.

"Wait, there are new ones?" Matthew laughed even harder. "I was talking about the ones from when I locked you two in a room together. I didn't know you got new ones today!"

"I never said they were from today!" Alfred whined, his face getting even redder. "Please, bro, do me a solid and just don't tell anyone! Especially not your boyfriend."

"What? You think Gil can't keep a secret?" Matthew laughed even harder, if that was even possible.

"Please, if he knew the secret identity of a superhero, the world would know in a day," Alfred rolled his eyes and Matthew fell over onto the side of the couch. "What? It's the truth. You can think all high and mighty of him but that's bullshit."

"He would never know the identity of a hero," Matthew snickered, attempting to compose himself. "He's too busy puking when there's any action anyway." He laughed a little more. Alfred was oblivious to why it was so funny, but it made everything so much better for the Canadian.

"Whatever," Alfred sighed. "But seriously, dude. Promise me to my face, right here, that you won't tell anyone."

"Al," Matthew attempted to keep a straight face and looked his brother in the eye. "I promise I won't tell anyone you're making out with Ivan at horror movies."

Alfred groaned and leaned his head back, over the back of the couch. "Seriously, dude? It wasn't my idea to see the stupid horror movie and we didn't make out! Who the hell makes out at horror movies? The couples always die first, too! Why would I be one of those couples? That's just a stupid idea!"

"So you were just clinging to Ivan's strong arm while you nearly pissed yourself?" Matthew laughed and Alfred attempted to shrink into the couch.

"No," Alfred said quietly and Matthew laughed even harder. Alfred had always been a terrible liar, which was why it was so easy to get information out of him when Matthew really wanted it.

"Don't worry, I swear I won't tell anyone about your…relationship with Ivan," Matthew snickered but tried to keep a straight face again. "Whatever it really is."

"Don't ask me, I don't get it either," Alfred mumbled.

"So…where are those new hickeys from?" Matthew asked curiously.

"Nope," Alfred said and quickly stood up, going into his room. Matthew had no idea why he hadn't done that in the first place when he was uncomfortable. Maybe he did want to talk about it or something. Matthew simply shrugged and turned his attention back to the show while he watched a guy fall from the top of a building and chuckled. Whatever possessed their parents to decide to send Alfred and Matthew to that school, Matthew was happy they did.

* * *

"_Our trail's cold and he wants results now."_

"_I know, sweetheart, relax. Take a deep breath. Is there any news from that spy?"_

"_We can't use anything he gives us. I would have to tell the boss about the spy and he would hate to know that he has to work with a mutant. And then he'd have us kill him and we already promised him that he wouldn't die if he helped us."_

"_We have to take risks here. Do you have any news from him?"_

"_The only relevant information is that Energy is gay and now has a boyfriend. That is all the mutant's told us."_

"_He's gay?"_

"_Don't start."_

"_What? It was a simple question. I just wanted to confirm it."_

"_Don't go soft now because of that bit of information. It's not enough to find him and the boss wants results by the end of the week. What do you intend we do now that we know that he's gay?"_

"_Here's a thought. Matthew. The way he looked at him when he saved him from the gunshot at our staged show, he obviously has feelings for the boy. So, if we add that in, it's a possibility that Energy could be going out with Matthew. If that's the case, then it would stand to reason that, eventually, Matthew will figure out his identity."_

"_You know we can't follow the Matthew lead. He's a human. We have no permission to go after him, despite what is necessary."_

"_Let's just watch Energy carefully. If he comes into contact with anyone, we'll know. We have cameras everywhere, it's alright. We'll be fine. Give it a week and then we can start freaking out, alright?"_

"_Fine. But so help me, if you start…doing whatever it is you do if we catch them together…"_

"_I will keep it completely professional. I swear."_

* * *

**Such a huge hint for the voices. Anyway, now Matthew knows Energy's identity, though if you really look at it, he guessed it a while ago, he just didn't want to admit it to himself. And Alfred and Ivan are doing things behind the scenes, how sweet. I'm excited for next chapter and you all should be as well!**

**In any case, please review and be awesome!**


	12. Private Time

Energy narrowly jumped out of the way of the bullet and cursed as he scraped his knees hard enough to tear the fabric of his pants. His constructs weren't working as well as they usually did and that was never a good thing, especially when the bad guy has guns. This was some kind of mob boss from what Gilbert could gather from the news, but no police were going after him due to his social standing. So that left Energy to bag the guy for everyone's sake. All in a day's work for a hero. However, now that his energy constructs weren't doing what he wanted (stupid puberty and hormones and shit), he was screwed. He had to think carefully about this one.

Energy focus his strength on his feet and managed to jump up to the second ledge of the nearby building and quickly jumped to the next one. The men with guns were quickly coming to the foot of the building as Energy scaled it as quickly as he could. He managed to make it to the roof just as someone fired a bullet, which grazed his hand.

"Dammit," Energy muttered under his breath as he tried to come up with a plan. All he had going for him was strength, but he would have to get close to these guys to stand a chance. They had guns, so he couldn't just run up and punch them out, so he needed a smarter plan than that. Energy ran over to the other side of the building, which was thankfully void of people, and jumped down the roughly six stories. He rolled once he landed, using his strength to prevent a lot of damage, he rolled to his feet and started running again, ducking around a warehouse. He quickly found the door and bashed it open easily, running inside.

If he was lucky, there'd be something in the warehouse to fight with. Either that, or he just doomed himself. It was dark, since Energy usually did his handiwork late at night, but he could see fairly well, all of the equipment and crates everywhere. He thrust his hands forward, attempting to create a box, but only a small platform appeared and Energy cursed once again before running up to a rather large stack of boxes, all of them most likely extremely heavy. He could hear the people with guns coming after him, their leader shouting orders in a language Energy didn't understand.

He quickly jumped up the boxes, climbing them like he did the building and made it to the top, hiding behind the smallest box at the top. He took a moment to collect his breath as the men rushed in, all shouting and looking around for him. Energy tried to make a small box in front of him, but all he got was a lop-sided circle. Energy clenched his fists and carefully tested to see how much the box in front of him weighed. This would be his best option while he figured this out.

He swiftly shoved the box over and it came toppling down, very expensive stuff slamming into the ground loudly. Someone shouted in pain and Energy smirked before moving to knock more boxes down, many of them toppling onto people and hopefully not harming them too badly. Energy didn't want to kill, even if the people he was going after clearly didn't think the same. Finally, pretty much all that was left was the leader, who had a simple pistol in his hands as he stood at the doorway. Energy smirked as the man started to run and ran after him. Using all of his strength in his feet, he easily caught up with the man, tackling him to the ground. Energy winced when he realized he had tackled him too hard and the man had been knocked out.

"Okay," Energy took a few deep breaths. "What now?"

* * *

Matthew sat at the edge of the apartment building's roof, his feet swinging below him as he attempted to look at the stars in the sky, but he wasn't able to see much. There were way too many lights around him. That was one thing he didn't like about the city; not enough nature. He let out a small sigh of annoyance. Alfred had been annoying. Not only was he refusing to do homework in favor of playing Portal or whatever game he had, but he also managed to piss Matthew off with his stupid American patriotism and dissing a bunch of other countries, including Canada.

So, rather than snapping and lashing back like Matthew deeply wanted to do, he simply left and went up to the roof, where he'd gone to think a few times before. A few cars honked here and here and there were a few sirens every now and then, but it was nice and relaxing. Peaceful. After about half an hour of just sitting there, alone, Matthew had successfully calmed down enough to probably come back inside. He was about to move when he saw a familiar red color in the sky and raised an eyebrow.

The closer it got, the more he knew exactly what it was. It was one of those energy constructs that Energy could create and Matthew laughed slightly. Eventually, he could see Gilbert running over the constructs he made and the boy nearly ran right past him before coming to a complete stop with wide, blue eyes.

"Holy shit," Gilbert muttered, staring at Matthew, who simply laughed. Then he noticed the fact that his clothing was torn in several places and one hand had its glove off, revealing a bleeding hand that Gilbert was making no effort to nurse.

"What happened to you?" Matthew immediately asked and Gilbert laughed before quickly using his constructs to walk onto the roof next to Matthew.

"Just a few scratches, no problem," Gilbert shrugged and Matthew took his hand to examine it closer. There was an obvious scrape.

"What is this from?" Matthew asked.

"Guys with guns," Gilbert shrugged. "No big deal, it happens all the time, you should get used to that, Birdie."

Matthew's eyes widened. He hadn't actually gone deep into thought of Gilbert actually going into the line of fire. Sure, he'd seen stories, but Energy usually never got hit thanks to his energy constructs.

"The only reason this happened was because my fucking energy things weren't working right," Gilbert sighed, pulling his hand away and using his other one to cup Matthew's face carefully. "Don't worry, I'm fine. And I figured everything out. The guy's in prison and the cops are digging out his groupees as we speak. Nothing big."

"How often do your powers not work?" Matthew asked curiously.

"Eh, the x-ray vision is off and on," Gilbert shrugged. "The strength's always there, and the energy shit is usually there. It pisses me off when it doesn't work, though. That's what I got my name from, you know? Enough about me, though, what the hell are you doing on the roof?"

"Al, just pissed me off," Matthew shrugged. "I come up here to clear my head. Are you sure you're fine?"

"Yeah, don't worry," Gilbert laughed slightly. "West is really good at patching me up, too. He wants to be a doctor or something, so that means he's getting a lot of practice on me. Oi, do you know what I've been thinking about?"

"I have a feeling I shouldn't," Matthew chuckled.

"Whatever, it's awesome, don't worry," Gilbert smirked. "So, you know how in the comics and shit, Spider-man has his own special kiss thing with Mary Jane?"

"Yeah?" Matthew asked.

"I was thinking it's be bad ass if we could make a special kiss of our own!" Gilbert said proudly. "Now that my energy constructs are up and running again, for whatever reason, we could try it out."

"What's wrong with just a regular kiss?" Matthew laughed.

"That's so boring!" Gilbert grumbled.

"It's not boring," Matthew hummed and placed a quick kiss on Gilbert's lips. "It's nice."

"Yeah, yeah," Gilbert rolled his eyes with a small smirk and pulled Matthew back in. Matthew squeaked slightly in surprise when he was pulled off the roof and onto one of Energy's constructs, but Gilbert never broke the kiss, rather he deepened it as much as he could and Matthew allowed it. Barely separating enough for air before resuming, Matthew carefully moved his fingers underneath Gilbert's wig and the wig cap before finding his real hair and threading his fingers through that. The mask felt funny on his nose, but Matthew didn't mind too much. Finally, breaking the perfect moment, Gilbert spoke up. "It'd be fucking hilarious if I dropped you right now."

Matthew immediately punched him in the shoulder as Gilbert laughed, pulling away so he could put his injured hand over his stomach. Matthew rolled his eyes and noticed just how far away from his building they really were. He took a subconscious step closer to Gilbert to ensure he didn't fall off.

"I was fucking kidding, Gott, your face was great!" Gilbert continued laughing.

"You're hilarious," Matthew muttered sarcastically. "Could you bring me back to my building now?"

"Party pooper," Gilbert smirked, attempting to stifle his laughter as he moved the construct back to the ledge and Matthew carefully stepped off.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow, Gil," Matthew smiled with a nod before going to the little door that lead back to the inside of the building. Gilbert simply saluted him before running off to make it back to his own home in hopes of going to sleep at a good time for once in his life.

* * *

"_Dammit, why is there no audio?"_

"_Is that Matthew? How are you getting this footage?"_

"_We're using the spy to our advantage, but the background noise is too loud to make out what the two are saying, especially from this distance."_

"_They're just…talking. Or maybe flirting. Definitely flirting. It's so adorable!"_

"_Do you think it's possible that Matthew could know Energy's identity?"_

"_There's no way to tell just by guessing. Oh, my God! Are they-"_

"_Elizabeta."_

"_Right, of course, sorry."_

"_I can still hear you…Right there. Do you see that?"_

"_Well, I mean, you could zoom in or something so you can see their faces better if you want to."_

"_I will not indulge your fantasies merely for that purpose. Look. Matthew's hands go underneath Energy's hair, like it's a wig."_

"_Interesting. So maybe Matthew does know Energy's identity if he knows that's a wig… How can we really tell, though?"_

"_Try to read their lips."_

"_Maybe once they stop making out."_

"_Elizabeta."_

"_Right, sorry, jeez, you don't have to be so mean about it. I mean, we could kiss like that if you want us to. I wouldn't mind."_

"_There, they're back to talking on the roof. Pay attention."_

"_I wonder what Energy said to get Matthew to look like that. Aw, they're so adorable together…"_

"_There. I'll rewind it to read Matthew's lips."_

"_Use that program to clear it up, it's too fuzzy. Good. It…looks like Matthew's saying he'll see him somewhere, probably school or something, but we already knew that. But then he says something later, kind of like a name, but it's hard to make out. If only we had audio…"_

"_With evidence like this, the boss would demand we bring him in."_

"_But he's human."_

"_You know that only stops us temporarily. The labs have come up with a better sample this time that we can use. We should act fast to see what Matthew knows. We should do this tomorrow."_

"_Are you saying we should just kidnap him? He's human! I'm not going to do anything to that poor kid just because his boyfriend happens to be a mutant!"_

"_We need to do what we can about mutants like Energy, you understand that. They are a danger to society. We need to do everything we can. If you don't come with me, I will have someone else come. The boss would demand this, too. You would only be delaying it."_

"_Fine. But I won't go with you to do it. You saw how much pain the last one was in."_

* * *

**Poor Mattie and Gil didn't even know they were being spied on, they were just trying to have a cute moment. Now shit's gonna go downhill very fast, you can just tell, huh? Anywho, more action from Energy because we all need to see a little more of the hero in him. What's a superhero AU without fights? Like, seriously guys.**

**Anyway, please review! You guys are all awesome!**


	13. Gone

"Alfred, hurry up, we're going to be late," Matthew sighed, knocking on Alfred's door. Alfred simply grumbled as he tied his shoes, leaving his tie to stay on his bed. He definitely wasn't going to figure that stupid thing out on a day like this. He had been up really late (admittedly, maybe a little too late) playing video games and he felt dead tired. But he wouldn't let Matthew know that, he'd give him hell for it. So Alfred just plastered on a smile as he picked up his bag, and swung his door open, Matthew barely able to duck out of the way of it hitting his face.

"We're not late bro," Alfred shrugged, waltzing past Matthew and to the door. "We'll be perfectly on time."

"As long as we hurry," Matthew rolled his eyes. Alfred laughed. Matthew was always such a stickler for obeying rules. He was never late to anything, while Alfred was content with getting places when he got there. Matthew pushed Alfred out the door and they quickly made their way to the streets while Matthew lead the way, walking with faster strides than Alfred, who was calmly taking in the morning scene of New York. He didn't mind the city, sure it was busy, but it definitely looked cool at night. The honking cars every 5 minutes and police sirens were something he wished he didn't have to deal with, but everything had its faults.

Alfred continued to walk calmly, Matthew constantly glaring back at him, as if in an attempt to get him to hurry up. Alfred just laughed and continued on his merry way. He liked walking to school, it gave him a lot of time to think. And he generally found those thoughts wandering over to Ivan, but he would never admit that out loud. He'd been getting…close with Ivan recently, but that obviously didn't mean anything important. The butterflies in his stomach and the heat Alfred felt…yeah nope, nothing serious there. Alfred shook his head and continued walking with his brother.

All of a sudden, however, a car screeched to a stop beside them on the road. Alfred simply shrugged and moved on and so did Matthew. Three people got out, wearing those fancy suits and dark shades like in those spy movies…and then they surrounded Matthew.

"What the hell?!" Alfred snapped and ran forward, immediately trying to pull away one of them. He succeeded, but the man quickly knocked Alfred onto his back on the concrete and the wind was knocked out of him for a second. Alfred's glasses were skewed and he struggled to look over at what was happening to Matthew, who was struggling very hard to keep out of the grip of the three people, but it wasn't working very well. Alfred growled before quickly standing back up as soon as the man Alfred tried to pull away pulled out a small syringe, filled with a dark liquid.

Alfred grabbed onto his arm to stop the man from bringing it closer to Matthew, who seemed unable to get his arms out of the grips of the other two.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Alfred ground out at him and the man roughly kicked Alfred in the stomach, causing the teenager to fall back onto the ground roughly, bruising his tailbone, most likely. Before Alfred could get back up, the syringe was forced into Matthew's neck. Matthew's mouth opened in a silent scream before he fell limp into the men's arms. "No! Stop!" Alfred scrambled back to his feet. One of the other men released Matthew, who was carried off by the other towards the car, and swiftly ran towards Alfred, a small, black box in his hand. He shoved it into Alfred's stomach and a sudden, painful shock. Alfred felt his body go rigid before the person let him fall to the ground and ran into the car, which Alfred barely noticed drove off as he twitched slightly.

Eventually, Alfred could figure out how to move again, but the pain was definitely still there, making it hard to stand. He desperately tried to look around for the car, but all he could remember of it was that it was black, he was too busy trying to save his brother to notice much of it. There was no way for him to find it.

"No," Alfred muttered, eyes wide as his legs failed him and he fell to the ground again. People just walked by like nothing bad had happened. A few people gave Alfred weird looks and Alfred was sure there were a few concerned people while Alfred was trying to fight, but no one tried to help them. "Mattie." Alfred felt tears rolling down his eyes. He had let his brother down…and he was gone…Why did those men need to take him?

* * *

Alfred swayed slightly as he attempted to stand in front of the door without collapsing. He was exhausted. He hadn't gone to school, but straight to the nearest police station, but he didn't know anything about these people, hardly seeing enough to identify them, and they said they couldn't help, as they were busy with more major crimes. He could leave a picture and they could try to find him later, but they were busy. It appeared that Energy wasn't on the scene at all that day, despite multiple robberies in progress. He had already decided that he couldn't bear to go home, seeing Matthew's door slightly ajar and his brother nowhere to be seen, so he went to the next best place he knew. It was taking all of his effort to remain standing and to make sure he still didn't cry. After about five minutes alone on the street, he decided that he refused to cry. Not to the police or to anyone. He had spent hours scouring the streets, attempting to call Matthew's phone, which was now turned off, and finding nothing. He was dead tired.

It took a lot of his strength to knock on the door and there were muffled sounds inside of the small town house before the door opened to the familiar, smiling face of Katyusha, Ivan's older sister.

"Oh, hello Alfred!" Katyusha smiled brightly at him and Alfred gave a small, fake smile right back. "What brings you here today?"

"I…" Words failed Alfred at this point, his voice gravelly. Katyusha frowned with concern at him and Alfred attempted a bigger smile, but he knew it wasn't working. "Can I…talk to Ivan, please?"

"Of course, whatever you need," Katyusha nodded and allowed Alfred to come in. Natalia sat on the couch of the living room, glaring at him, but Alfred barely felt it. "He's in his room, I think he said he was doing homework."

"Thanks," Alfred mumbled before going up to Ivan's door and knocking, a little harsher than he intended. He heard Ivan sigh before his heavy footsteps walked over to the door. Ivan's eyes widened in surprise, however, when it was Alfred that he saw.

"Fredka?" Ivan asked. "I was expecting Natalia to be doing the interrupting." At that moment, Alfred felt something in him snap. All of his resolve melted away and he clung to Ivan, tightly grabbing onto the fabric on Ivan's back. Alfred buried his head in the crook of Ivan's neck, and he couldn't hold back everything he'd been keeping locked up all day. He sobbed. He couldn't stop it. He soaked Ivan's shirt with his tears and his face felt hot, but he didn't care. His brother was gone. Completely.

Ivan slowly placed his arms around Alfred as well with a deep breath and held him close. Ivan moved robotically, as if he didn't know what to do, and carefully rubbed Alfred's back.

"Let's go into my room," Ivan suggested and slowly moved backwards. Alfred didn't even release him slightly, simply following Ivan into his room. Ivan kicked his door closed and Alfred felt himself sobbing harder, clinging to Ivan harder. "Would you like to sit?"

Alfred vaguely registered himself nodding and the two sat down beside each other on Ivan's bed while Alfred attempted to compose himself. Alfred's face was drenched and he was still trembling slightly, even as he managed to stop all of his sobbing.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Ivan asked carefully, an arm around Alfred's shoulders to hold him closer. It was not something either of them was used to and, if Alfred hadn't been as depressed as he was, he would have been just as awkward as Ivan about it. "Does this have something to do with why you or Matvey were not at school today?" Just hearing Matthew's name again made Alfred let out a shuddered breath and he leaned forward, his arms resting on his knees.

"He's gone," Alfred croaked, shaking his head before putting it into his hands. "He's gone. I…"

"Matvey is…gone?" Ivan asked, dumbfounded

"It's all my fucking fault!" Alfred snapped. "I was right there! I could have stopped them, dammit! I couldn't fight all three and…and they got away…and I'm such a useless brother…"

"Nyet," Ivan sighed and pulled him closer. "You tried. You must have fought hard."

"They fucking tazed me so I wouldn't…couldn't follow them," Alfred muttered, shaking his head furiously. "I can't go home…"

"Then you will stay here, da?" Ivan offered. Alfred let out a shuddered sob and Ivan sighed again, attempting to rub Alfred's back.

"This is fucking weird," Alfred muttered, trying to take his attention away from Matthew, even for a second. "Right?"

"Da." Alfred glanced at Ivan with puffy, red eyes, and the Russian smiled softly at him. "But we cannot always want to kill each other."

"What should I do?" Alfred mumbled quietly.

"For now," Ivan sighed, "you will rest. You are tired. When you have clearer head, then we will think of something to do."

Alfred nodded numbly and allowed himself to lie down on Ivan's bed. Ivan stayed beside him until Alfred's exhaustion finally overcame him and Alfred fell into a very, very deep sleep.

* * *

Energy slammed his fist into the wall as hard as he could, letting out a shout of anger. He couldn't find anything. He figured, after Matthew hadn't gone to school that day, he'd stop by Matthew's apartment and see what was up, but Matthew was nowhere to be seen, neither was Alfred. Energy checked the store that Matthew worked at, not there. The ice rink for the hockey team to practice at, not there. He'd scoured around the city, nothing. He tried calling Matthew several times, but it just went straight to voice mail.

He had been searching for hours, ignoring his duty as a hero, and simply looking for Matthew. If there was a reasonable explanation for this, he would love to hear it. Matthew would have warned him if he was leaving or something. So where the hell was he? Energy groaned from where he stood on an energy construct, in front of the destroyed corner of a building he had just created, and glanced around. He knew this part of town. This would be perfect.

Energy quickly ran to that one familiar house with the familiar open window. He looked inside, but he didn't see the guy anywhere.

"Kiku!" Energy whined into the little apartment. There was a small crash before Kiku came out of a small room, looking very confused.

"Energy?" Kiku asked. It didn't look like he had been asleep, so Energy was left to wonder what he did in that room. "What is wrong?"

"He's missing," Energy muttered. "My boyfriend. I can't find him anywhere and I've been looking for hours and…" Energy slumped into the windowsill. "What if something really bad happened to him?"

"I am very sorry," Kiku muttered, walking up to the window carefully, though he wasn't looking at Energy. "I am sure he is fine, you just have to look harder."

"The worst part is that the guy that should know exactly where he is, his fucking brother, is gone, too! I don't know what to do! I can't sleep without knowing where the hell he is!"

"I am sure nothing bad is happening to him," Kiku attempted. "Everything will be fine, Energy, things just have a way of working out."

"That's not the advice I need," Energy grumbled, slumping even more against the window.

"If you would like," Kiku mumbled, glancing back at the room he had just come from, "I am watching anime. You could, too, take your mind off of all of this for a while."

"I can't just try to forget about it," Energy sighed, shaking his head. "I need to find him. I can't stop now, and I never will."

"Hai, then I wish you the best of luck," Kiku nodded. "I am sure you will find him soon. Have faith."

Energy just sighed before turning around and looking at the massive city before him. He was screwed.

* * *

**No, Matthew! Alfred really tried to save him, but three adults on one teenager isn't exactly a fair game, is it? And even Gilbert's worried, but he doesn't know the whole story yet. We'll see what is really happening to Matthew next time! I've also noticed that I've turned my focus to pretty much the four main characters and the background characters have kind of…disappeared? I didn't mean for that to happen and I'm definitely fixing it next chapter! I've been feeling bad, but we'll fix it shortly!**

**Also, I'm going in NDK next weekend (so excited) and as such, I will be unable to update for you guys next weekend. Maybe you'll get another update a little later this week, but if not you'll have to wait two weeks. So sorry to leave you on a note like this, such intense, but I will see y'all later!**

**Please review mans!**


	14. Get Him Back

He was in an incredible amount of pain. He wanted to scream, but just the idea of moving anything brought him enough pain to stop the thought cold. His head felt like it was about to explode, if it hadn't already, and the rest of his body felt numb but excruciatingly painful at the same time. He didn't know how long he could take this before he snapped. But he'd felt like he'd snapped already. He couldn't think of anything but the pain, no memories, no thoughts. Just the pain that surrounded him, threatened to take him whole. It was a worse torture than he would ever hope on anyone else.

* * *

The screams were horrible. The woman sat at her desk, staring at the dark wood, forced to listen to the agony she had heard several times before. Usually, the people suffering wouldn't make it to the end of their transformations, the pain is too much for them to bear, but it seemed this one would make it. He'd lasted so long, anyway. The woman let out a shuddered breath as she attempted to focus on her work, but she couldn't. No matter how hard she tried, nothing would allow her to tune out those horrific screams.

She swiftly stood from her desk and marched out of the room, walking down the hall, towards the screams. She knew just who would be there and she needed to talk to _someone_. The screams reverberated on the walls around her, making them seem louder and she shuddered, but didn't lose her resolve. She felt the tears spring to her eyes the closer she got, until she saw the man she was looking for, slumped against the wall with bags under his eyes that she could see even under his glasses. He was usually so composed, but being forced to hear these screams for hours would drive anyone mad.

She quickened her pace upon seeing the man and swiftly pulled him into a close hug. He jumped slightly, but sighed and hugged her bag, tightly.

"Why did we have to do this?" she murmured to him, just loud enough to be heard through all of the screams.

"You know as well as I do," he said. "He knows the answers to the questions we've been asking and the only way we can go near him, legally, is if he's a mutant. I'm very sorry for all of this, Elizabeta." The woman, Elizabeta, shook her head into the man's chest, holding him as close as she could. The screams suddenly grew worse, the poor boy's voice cracking several times. "It's almost over. After all of this, I promise, we will get time off, go somewhere else. For a little while."

"This isn't right," Elizabeta mumbled.

He sighed heavily. "Need I remind you what mutants did to you in the past? These creatures need to be gotten rid of in some way. You know that."

"Which means this poor boy, who was a human before, is going to be killed, too," Elizabeta murmured.

"Sadly, yes," he nodded slowly, rubbing small circles into her back. The screaming suddenly stopped and Elizabeta tensed. It was eerily quiet, like in a horror movie before something bad is about to happen. They stood still for a few moments before he separated them slowly and carefully. "I must go. I'm very sorry for all of this, but it will all be over soon. We will have Energy in due time and then we can take a break."

"Be careful, Roderich," Elizabeta muttered and Roderich smiled at her before placing a small kiss to her lips. He nodded before walking just slightly further down the hallway before disappearing behind a heavy door. This was always the dangerous part, Elizabeta remembered. The subject was either dead, or alive and with no control of their new powers. She hoped Roderich would be safe.

* * *

"Gilbert, are you okay?"

"Gilbert?"

"Is he dead?"

"Of course he's not fucking dead! Right?"

"What do you think Alfredo?"

"Merde, Alfred?"

Gilbert took a deep breath, trying to collect himself. He was running on zero sleep, having been unable to do anything but stay up. He was covered in bruises he delicately covered with his clothing and some makeup thanks to him trying to stop some crimes. But he'd failed. Matthew was missing and he couldn't focus on anything until he figured out _why _or _how_. His friends were even worried about him. Feliciano carefully took his fork and was about to poke his cheek to get Gilbert out of his trance.

"Sorry," Gilbert muttered, shaking his head, glaring at the food sitting in front of him. Right, it was lunch. How had he made it through all of his classes so far if Matthew's desk was empty in every one of them? "Just…thinking."

"Well, stop it," Lovino snapped.

"Gilbert," Ludwig said and Gilbert turned his attention to him. "Are you alright?"

"'Course, West," Gilbert plastered a smirk onto his face, hoping he could fool his friends. It wasn't like he could tell them that he was out all night as Energy searching for Matthew. Not even Ludwig, who would scold him for doing something so dangerous to his health.

"Uh…Gil," Alfred finally spoke up, too. Gilbert had so many questions for the American, who had been sulking all day, too. Like where the hell he was the night before, did he see Matthew before he disappeared? The group seemed equally worried for the both of them. "Can I…uh…talk to you? In private? It's uh…it's about Mattie."

"Ja," Gilbert immediately stood up. Finally. Alfred slowly sat up and several people in the group looked between them.

"Where is Matthew?" Arthur finally spoke up as well. "He's been gone for two days now."

"He's…uh…" Alfred winced. "He's sick. Flu, you know." Alfred shrugged half-heartedly before slowly walking away. Gilbert followed him, past the rows of tables filled with happy kids all too easily ignoring the two depressed teens as they continued to walk. Gilbert grew impatient as he was forced to follow Alfred past the lunchroom and into the hallways, before going underneath some stairs, where no one was near to hear them.

"Okay, what the fuck is going on?" Gilbert snapped. "Where the hell is Matthew? Not sick, I know that much. I checked by your fucking apartment yesterday and neither of you were there!"

"He's not sick, he's…" Alfred paused before slumping against the wall and hitting his head slightly against it. "He's gone. I couldn't stop it and I'm sorry."

"He's…gone?" Gilbert's anger washed away, left with only confusion and a little bit of sadness. "What the hell do you mean?"

"These guys just came out of nowhere on the way to school yesterday and…" Alfred paused again, running a hand through his mussed hair. "They took him. I couldn't do anything to stop them, they tazed me…I…"

"Why…" Gilbert muttered. "Why would they take him?"

"I don't know," Alfred shook his head furiously. "They didn't even fucking talk when they took him."

"Did you see where they went?"

"No."

"He's just…gone?"

"I'm sorry," Alfred sighed. "I figured you should know. I don't want everyone else to know because they'll just panic. And I already tried going to the police, but they said they couldn't help me." Alfred slumped down to the ground and Gilbert felt his legs nearly give way underneath him. So Matthew was just gone? Forever? Without a trace?

"No," Gilbert shook his head. "He's not gone, we'll find him."

"How?" Alfred whispered out, his head in his hands.

"Get Energy's attention," Gilbert said simply. "He'll look. I'll look. You'll look. I don't care what happens, we'll find him. He's not gone."

Alfred looked up at him with sad, watery eyes.

"Who else knows?" Gilbert asked.

"Ivan," Alfred muttered. Gilbert groaned inwardly at the name. But he could help, too, he was useful in his own way. Despite being a fucking coward.

"Have him look, too," Gilbert stated. It wasn't an option. "Tell him to use everything he's got, too." Alfred nodded numbly. Gilbert held out a hand for him to stand and Alfred took it. "And quit apologizing. It's not your fault, you couldn't do anything, right? Now all we can do is get him back. And kick the ass of whoever took him in the first place."

"Are you sure Energy's gonna help, though?" Alfred asked.

"Positive," Gilbert nodded. "I'll give him a shout-out, too. Use Twitter or whatever you got. Get his attention and I'm sure he'll do it." In reality, no one had ever really gone to Energy for a missing person's case. He had no idea where to start or what to do. But he would be damned if he let those bastards do anything to hurt Matthew. He would find them and kill them all if he had to.

Alfred nodded, a little more resolutely and Gilbert smirked. Good, he was getting out of his pouty phase. Even with Ivan on their side looking for him, they stood a chance. Now they just had to play it off like Matthew had the flu and that was why he wasn't coming around to school for however long he was out. They quickly made their way back to the lunch room and the table and Gilbert immediately devoured the food he'd left.

"Well, it looks like Gilbert's back," Antonio chatted aimlessly.

"That sour face did not look good on you at all, mon ami," Francis patted his back, hitting a bruise right on. Gilbert bit hard on his food to make sure he didn't make a sound. "What did you two talk about while you were gone?"

"Just getting medicine to help Mattie," Alfred shrugged. "Gilbert's offering to help us out since we kinda need the money."

"Oh, if that is what you wanted, you should have come to me!" Feliciano brightened. "The Vargas company has been producing all kinds of medicine for years! What do you need, I'll help you out all I can!"

"Nah, it's fine, don't worry about it," Alfred shrugged.

"Besides, idiot," Lovino grumbled. "Grandfather wouldn't want you just picking and choosing random medicine for your friend. You wouldn't even fucking know what to pick and give him the wrong thing."

"This is why I'm happy the Kirkland Company focuses on technology, so I don't have to worry about things like that," Arthur sighed from where he was reading his book.

"I'm right up there with you, man!" Gilbert laughed. "The Beilschmidts don't have to worry about having a fucking medical degree before the next one takes over the company."

They continued their conversation, laughing and having a good time, forgetting about the previous depression of Gilbert and Alfred. However, Gilbert definitely didn't forget about the fact that someone had dared to kidnap his Matthew. He had plans for whoever the culprit was and he would make damn sure that they would pay.

* * *

Most of the pain was gone now, but his head still throbbed. He was sweating, it was so hot. He couldn't feel anything through his fingers, like he was just floating in blackness. He could hear people talking, just not what they were saying. Everything just merged into one confusing mess that he couldn't even try to understand. There was one word, however, that made it through his mind and repeated through it several times over, like a constant reminder. The word made him shiver and made him nervous, anxious.

_Mutant._

* * *

**I'm alive, guys! I really hated being gone for so long! In all honesty, I hadn't written at all in over a week, not even for a short story or anything, and I NEEDED to write something, so the first thing I wrote was a chapter for Newsworthy! Gotta love it!**

**Okay, so final reveal for the two voices up there, if you didn't catch that. We actually have a straight couple, what is this madness? Gilbert's hell-bent on getting Matthew back and I understand, I would be, too. He got Alfred's moral up as well, how exciting! I bet you all can't wait to see how all of this unfolds and I'm very excited. Literally everything's been completely planned out from the start and it's magnificent and I can't wait. Anyway, I'm rambling at this point, so…**

**Please review!**


	15. To Be Pitied

He felt like he was going to be sick. The pounding in his head refused to go away, making it impossible for him to think properly. But as soon as he'd opened his eyes and that flash of blinding white light entered his vision, he felt like he would puke. He felt himself gag and twitch slightly, but he couldn't bring his body to move.

And then, all of a sudden, his body moved for him. He was suddenly on his side and he did vomit, into what appeared to be a trashcan. And then he felt something on his back, but he couldn't focus well enough to see it. The trashcan was even blurry, even after he'd emptied out his entire stomach, it almost looked like it was moving…

"Sh…" came a calm, sweet voice of a woman. But he hardly remembered he'd heard it after the sound was gone. "It'll be okay. I'm sorry." His head ached as he tried to remember…anything. It was impossible, though, the more he thought, the more his head pounded and he dry heaved. He heard heavy clatter and the calm, sweet voice cursed under her breath.

* * *

Elizabeta cursed when she saw nearly everything on the counters fly off of them as Matthew dry heaved over the trashcan. She stopped her hand from circling the poor boy's back and carefully stepped away to pick up the mess. That stupid serum that those idiots used was always random with what it did. Sometimes, it would kill the person they would use it on, but on rare occasions like this, it would change the person's DNA, create a mutant out of them. And the abilities would be completely random. Matthew appeared to have some kind of telekinesis, which would be very dangerous, especially during his recovery phase.

She put everything back quickly and then looked at Matthew, his eyes squeezed shut with his hands gripping his head so tight it looked like he planned to squish his own head. He was a mutant now, that couldn't be argued anymore, and that should terrify her, after everything that had happened to her and her family. But Elizabeta still felt bad for the poor boy. He wasn't a mutant to start with and he'd just been drugged against his will so that they could take down Energy…Was it all really worth it?

"I heard a crash," the door to the small recovery room opened and Roderich stepped in, looking around. "Is everything alight?"

"It looks like some kind of telekinesis," Elizabeta muttered, looking at the ground. Roderich, hardly even sparing a glance at the suffering boy on the bed in the middle of the room, held her close, obviously noticing her discomfort.

"I know this is difficult for you," Roderich muttered. "If you would like, we could arrange for someone else to watch him."

"No," Elizabeta shook her head. She knew that, if anyone else in this facility were to watch this boy, he would suffer all the more. None of them would have been kind enough to turn him to the side to puke or offer him comfort by actually touching him. No, they would all simply stare from a safe distance and watch him go through this immense pain alone. "I'll be okay." She offered a shaky smile to Roderich as he stepped back.

"You know where I am if you need me to help you," Roderich said simply before he glanced at Matthew for the first time. The boy finally let out another scream, his voice still cracking several times, as he couldn't handle it. "He is dangerous now, you know that."

"Of course," Elizabeta nodded to him. As soon as Roderich left, her smile fell. She was desperately trying to understand this mindset that was apparently necessary for this line of work. A mutant was dangerous because it was a mutant. However, a human turned mutant, should still have the same, human ideals, but they're still just considered another mutant, it just didn't make sense. She'd joined this company because all she could feel towards mutants was this deep hatred after they ruined her life over and over again. But when she was forced to kill a mutant other than the one that caused her so much strife, she couldn't. She'd come to this revelation that she hadn't hated mutant kind, but just the mutants that made her miserable. But she couldn't leave now. She knew the secrets of this company. She would be killed the second she tried to leave.

She turned back to Matthew, who was trembling, and shakily walked towards him. There was no telling what other dangerous abilities he had, and so she treaded carefully towards him. Once she was near, she once again rubbed circles on his back. Matthew jumped visibly at the contact and a few objects clattered to the floor once again, but then he relaxed.

"I'm sorry," Elizabeta muttered. "I really am. But this is to get Energy, not you. I'm sorry you had to be a target."

And then Matthew finally muttered a word. It was quiet and Elizabeta could hardly hear it, but Matthew's mouth opened and closed to say it. A simple word, but if he had said it at this stage, that meant that he really meant it.

"No."

* * *

Ivan sighed contentedly. He was happy in his current situation. He knew, considering the entire situation, he shouldn't be, but he had learned to live in the moment a while ago. He was lying in his bed, beside Alfred, who was currently fast asleep. The boy refused to go home without Matthew there, and so he had elected to stay with Ivan until they got him back. Alfred never wanted to go to school, he just wanted to look around, hope to find Matthew. Ivan had to force him to focus, talk him into doing his homework and schoolwork, demand that he sit down and eat something before running off.

Just a few hours before, Ivan had finally gotten Alfred to relax to the point where they both enjoyed themselves and they were both shirtless from the event. Ivan glanced over Alfred's torso in the dark room and sighed happily. Alfred had burns on his body from when Ivan couldn't control himself, but he had never gotten mad.

It was interesting for Ivan. Since he was little, he figured out that he was a mutant, the only in his family, and his sisters made sure to keep it a secret from their parents for as long as possible. Ivan could control the cold, create ice or snow whenever he wanted, bring down the whole temperature of a room and not even be bothered by it. And he'd grown used to it. He covered nearly his entire body with clothing so that he wouldn't accidentally freeze anyone when they accidentally brushed him. He had distanced himself as well, just to make sure that no one figured out that he was a mutant. The only one that had actually tried to be his friend had been Matthew, who simply smiled at Ivan's odd behavior and didn't even blink at the fact that Ivan was never cold on the ice during hockey practice. And then he had been introduced to Alfred and something happened.

Ivan liked Alfred, enjoyed his company, and when Alfred had tried to leave during that party and Ivan held onto his wrist to stop him, something had happened that had never happened to him before, he had burned him. Heat had travelled through his glove and burned Alfred, who simply acted like nothing had happened. And that had made Ivan like him all the more. Being around Alfred made Ivan feel like a fire had lit inside of him and he gained a better control of his new ability to create heat. He still lost control every now and then, as he was still a novice compared to his cold control, but Alfred never seemed to mind, hiding it from the view of humans, and laughing about them to Ivan later, saying he'd be fine and he could just walk it off. He was a kind human, unlike a lot of humans (and even other mutants) that Ivan had met before.

Alfred grumbled slightly in his sleep and moved, Ivan's arm still loosely wrapped around his waist.

"Don't fucking touch me, Commie," Alfred muttered as he turned around, his back to Ivan, who smiled slightly. It was also odd comments like that that amused Ivan. Alfred had an interesting way of showing his affection, but Ivan did not mind, in fact he would play along very often. He was just happy that, considering everything that had been happening, Alfred was relaxed enough to maybe get a good night's sleep for once.

Ivan moved a little closer to Alfred, careful not to burn him and wake him up. He would let Alfred sleep for as long as he needed to. He had even made sure that Natalia wouldn't try to get into the room with a knife again to slit Alfred's throat because, as much as Ivan loved his sister, he could realize that she was kind of crazy at times.

Ivan placed a small kiss on top of Alfred's head, his eye lids drooping slightly, before he finally allowed himself to get some rest, too. They could search for Matthew again once they were fully rested.

* * *

Gilbert was completely exhausted. He sat, dressed up as Energy, on top of some random building, his head in his hands. He tried to take a few deep breaths to collect himself, but nothing was working. He'd been searching day and night, skipping school sometimes to continue his search. Ludwig was starting to get angry at him. Gilbert was pretty sure he hadn't slept in days, but he wouldn't allow himself to just stop for no good reason. His stomach growled, more like screamed, at him. He needed food, desperately, but where the hell was he thinking he would get it? He was dressed up as Energy, anyway, no food place in their right mind would take him in, even if it was past midnight.

Energy stood shakily. He wouldn't find anything if he just sat around waiting for something, anything to come by and attract his attention. He moved his hand out to create a small energy square to walk on, but nothing came and Gilbert cursed. He moved his hand again, but nothing came.

"Come on, dammit," Gilbert snapped, moving his hand forward again. He stifled another yawn and made the mistake of closing his eyes to take a deep breath. He fell asleep for half a second and, when he woke up again, he was falling down the building. Gilbert immediately put a small energy square forward to fall onto and it, thankfully, worked. "Jesus Christ…" He should get sleep, he knew that. But any time he would simply lie in his bed to try to sleep, he wouldn't be able to stop thinking about Matthew, all of the harm that could be coming to him, and he would just get up and leave again. Ludwig had tried to stop him, saying it would be dangerous, but Gilbert knew that, dammit!

"What should I do?" Gilbert ran a hand through his hair, staring at the still bustling city below him. "Birdie…where are you?"

* * *

**Kind of short-ish chapter, and it skipped around a lot, but I like it. We got a little into Elizabeta's head, which is good, now we can see where her conviction is, and a little about the company she's working for. Then we got a sneak peak over at Ivan and Alfred and, gasp, Ivan's a mutant. Alfred, at least, can get a little sleep because Ivan's caring so much about his mental health and making him relax. Gilbert, sadly, doesn't have that, and so he's been staying up for days without eating or sleeping much. This is getting dangerous. But what will happen next time? That's for you to figure out.**

**Please review! It's my life blood.**


	16. Shatter Me

Matthew could remember. At least a little bit, now. The throbbing was a little less now, but he had no sense of time. How long had he been there? How long had Alfred been looking for him? Gilbert? Was Energy looking for him? Where even was he? All of these questions just brought back the throbbing and Matthew clamped his hands heavily over his head. That woman was still there, offering soft words of apology. Why was all of this happening? He didn't have a clue.

"Elizabeta," a new voice said, entering whatever room they were in. Matthew's vision was far too blurry to make sense of anything, partly due to his glasses being missing, and partly due to his migraine. One thing Matthew did notice, however, was the fact that the man's voice sounded…concerned. "I will need to ask you to leave this room immediately."

"Why?" the woman, Elizabeta asked. "Roderich, what's wrong?"

"He is coming to see him," Roderich muttered and the room was quiet for a very long time.

Matthew used all of his effort to fill the silence, slowly moving his lips, forcing with all of his might to push sound through his vocal chords. All for a simple word.

"Who?"

"He's talking now?" Roderich demanded.

"Not very much," Elizabeta admitted, sounding rather depressed, in Matthew's opinion. What was it about this news that was a bad thing. "Nothing to cause harm to anything. So far, all that's happened is the telekinesis, I swear." What? Telekinesis? That was new.

"You will need to leave," Roderich sighed. "Trust me, he is very angry with how long this is taking and he'll be using…them."

"Fine," Elizabeta muttered and Matthew almost felt sad. Having her around was almost comforting, nice. He didn't want her to leave his side. "But I will be returning immediately afterwards."

"If he doesn't kill him after he gets his information," Roderich muttered and Matthew heard footsteps. Kill? Why would someone kill Matthew? What information did they want?

The room was perfectly quiet while Matthew's mind started reeling, making the ache infinitely worse. He couldn't even try to understand any of what was going on. He desperately wished that the woman had stayed in the room. Just her mere presence made him relax slightly, now she was gone, to be replaced by someone who might just kill him? Why did this have to happen to him? What had he done to deserve any of this?

And then the door opened, revealing harsh, quick footsteps that quickly grew closer to where Matthew was lying, whether it was a table or a bed hadn't really occurred to Matthew. Matthew's breath grew quicker and he tried to look at the man, focus, but all he could see was some blurry face, colors blending in with everything else.

"You're fucking weak," the person snapped and Matthew couldn't quite tell if he'd heard it before or not. It seemed…slightly familiar, but…not quite. "I've given you a fucking week and you can't even sit upright, can you?" Something gripped onto his shirt and pulled him upright. Matthew immediately felt sick and dry heaved once again, nothing coming out since he'd already puked out his last, tiny meal. "Pathetic." There was something about that…accent…that was familiar, but Matthew just couldn't get it. The man placed a firm hand just underneath Matthew's chin and forced him to look up at him. "Now you're going to tell me something that I know you fucking now, freak. Who is Energy?"

Was that what this was all about? He was kidnapped and basically tortured so that they could figure out Energy's identity? Who were these people? What was going on?

Matthew's mouth opened without his permission and he was preparing to say something, but he stopped himself immediately, spilling out an entirely different word.

"No."

The man's grip on Matthew tightened painfully and Matthew winced. "Fucking tell me, twerp." Again, Matthew's mouth opened, which greatly confused him, but Matthew one again said that simple word and the man growled. "Knowing that Thing has caused all of this shit to happen to you and you're still going to fucking protect it?"

"Yes," Matthew said simply, attempting to glare at the man's face, but that left him feeling sick again, and he fought not to heave again. The man punched him, directly in his gut and Matthew did dry heave, quite a lot. The man let go of him and Matthew was surprised that he stayed upright. There was a huge clatter around them and this time the man growled and it almost sounded feral, like an animal.

"You fucking freak!" the man snapped and Matthew just noticed that the man was walking back towards him, but what had caused him to back up that much? Was it him? This time, the man gripped onto Matthew's neck and he felt like he could barely breathe. "You fucking tell me, now! What is Energy's name?"

"E-Energy," Matthew whispered out with a small smirk and the man's grip tightened, constricting the majority of Matthew's airflow.

"You're protecting him a lot, aren't you? What, do you fucking love him, faggot? Then give me a nod, he goes to the same school, yeah?"

"No," Matthew mumbled, but his head disobeyed and nodded for him and Matthew's eyes widened. What was this?

"There it is," the man said smugly. "You can't stop the nanobots that I put in you. They're all over your body, they know exactly what you're thinking, they just can't tell me what's going on in your fucked up mind except through you. And you can override what they want to say, but not what they can do. Only problem…I can't go through all of the fucking kids at that school one by one and have you nod yes and no. So we'll go for an easier approach."

Matthew swallowed thickly, the man's grip still tight on his neck. He didn't like where this was going. He couldn't control his actions now? What the hell was going on? If this was about protecting Gilbert, though, Matthew would make sure to do anything he could. He would do anything to help Gilbert avoid being in the same situation as him.

"Tomorrow, you'll go to your fucking school," the man continued and Matthew's eyes widened slightly. "And you'll point out Energy, but in a way where the freak has to show its powers in front of everyone. Become its super villain, if it fucking thinks it can be a superhero. And you know what? Do it during lunch, so the freak can see you before you ruin its life. I bet its been looking for you since we took you."

"No," Matthew whispered, but his head nodded in understanding. Tears sprang to his eyes without his permission and the man scoffed before tossing Matthew back onto the hard thing underneath him.

"Now get some fucking sleep so you can actually stand a fucking chance," the man immediately walked away. Matthew's body obeyed, already closing his eyes and making him drift off, into sleep. He was still trembling, though, and that woman came back and immediately attempted to comfort him, but nothing could stop the fear that was coursing through Matthew. All he was now was a tool for them to get Gilbert. He couldn't even stop himself.

* * *

"Mon Dieu, Gilbert, you should really get some sleep," Francis sighed, placing a hand on Gilbert's shoulder. Gilbert just shrugged, leaning against a wall. School would start soon and Ludwig was keeping a close eye on him to make sure he stayed. Gilbert was on the verge of getting multiple detentions for how much he was skipping to find Matthew. Just staying in school made him antsy, he couldn't think of anything else but what could possibly be happening to Matthew. Staring at his empty seat in all of his classes, the ideas of possible torture came to mind and Gilbert shivered.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it," Gilbert muttered. He had looked in the mirror that morning. The bags under his eyes were deep and he could hardly keep his eyes open, but he couldn't sleep. He glanced over at Alfred, who looked like he slept like a fucking baby and Gilbert scoffed. He wasn't worried about his brother at all!

"But sleep is the most important thing!" Feliciano chimed. "Where would I be without my fifth period nap?"

"I thought you had math fifth period," Antonio laughed slightly.

"That's why I nap in that class, silly," Feliciano laughed.

"Gilbert," Arthur sighed. "If you don't sleep, it can be very hazardous to your health. Why are you staying up so much anyway? Is this because Matthew still hasn't recovered from his illness?"

"More like he hasn't changed," Gilbert muttered.

"Well fuck Matthew for just a second and sleep," Lovino snapped. Francis and Antonio snickered beside Gilbert, who rolled his eyes. "Not like that, you fucking retards!"

"Hey, Gil, could I talk to you for a bit?" Alfred asked, hands stuffed into his pockets. Gilbert shrugged and moved off of the wall to follow Alfred down the hall a ways. "Dude, this is getting dangerous, I know this is all…stressful, but you need to sleep, man."

"I'm trying to find him," Gilbert clenched his teeth. "Obviously, you don't care as much as I do, you're just fucking sleeping 10 hours a night with Ivan, aren't you?"

"I care," Alfred snapped. "That's my fucking brother. I don't go a second thinking about what could be happening to him. But how am I supposed to help him if I can barely stand because I haven't eaten or slept in days? Just take a fucking break, we have Energy looking for him, too. Seriously, just sleep."

"I can't," Gilbert shook his head. "I've tried and I can't. I won't stop looking until we find him, I don't care who else is helping us."

"And if you found out where he was right now, how would you help him?" Alfred demanded. "You would stumble in there, mutter something, and they would kick your ass." Gilbert winced. He'd tried to do his job as Energy several times and had gotten his ass handed to him. His entire body was sore.

"You don't get it," Gilbert shook his head. "I can't stop looking, I have to find him. If I sit around and do nothing, I'll go crazy. While we're sitting around, something bad could be happening to him. Just going to school is a stupid idea. What? Is he just gonna fucking waltz in here and say sorry for being gone for so long? We need to be out there and looking for him."

"Ivan's skipping school today to look," Alfred said. "Don't worry about it, everything will be fine. We'll get him back, we'll destroy whoever took him, and everything will go back to normal, don't worry about it. Everyone else is so worried about you, at least give them a little piece of mind and sleep a little."

"I can't close my eyes without thinking about him," Gilbert shook his head. "I can't sleep. I've tried so many times…"

"I know it's hard, dude," Alfred sighed. "I've swung by the apartment to pick up a few things and Matt's door was open. Don't worry, we'll find him. I promise you that."

"Whatever," Gilbert muttered and the bell rang above them. "I'm gonna go the long way to homeroom, just let me clear my head."

Alfred nodded and walked off, joining with Feliciano as Gilbert walked an entirely different direction. Ludwig would kill him if he left school, so he'd just let himself think. He knew he needed sleep and all of that shit, but he couldn't. He wished he was in his peak condition, but he couldn't do it. He could lie in bed for many a minute before he thought of 10 different things that could be happening to Matthew, none of them good.

He only noticed he was walking by the front door when a large crowd of kids rushed past him, attempting to get to class before the late bell rang and Gilbert sighed. He should get to class, maybe focusing on lessons for a day would do him some good… Just as he was about to turn, however, something caught his eye that made him stop dead in his tracks with wide eyes.

Walking in slowly, stumbling slightly, still in seemingly perfect condition…those perfectly blonde curls in his hair, those soft violet eyes tucked away behind glasses. Gilbert forgot his fatigue and ran for him, pulling him into a tight hug.

"Birdie."

* * *

**I based the title of this chapter off of a song by Lindsey Stirling, featuring Lzzy Hale. It's a fantastic song, you all should listen to it, mans. Anywho, oh shit. I think this is a perfect way to end this chapter, honestly. I love it so much. We all know how this is going to turn out…or do we?**

**Please review! It's amazing!**


	17. Return

"Birdie," Gilbert muttered as he pulled Matthew close. Just seeing the boy after so long along with the fact that he was extremely low on sleep made him close to tears. The odd part was, however, that Matthew wasn't moving. He'd let out a small gasp when he'd seen Gilbert, but other than that, he hadn't made a single move. "Where the fuck have you been?" Gilbert mumbled, too afraid to pull away, afraid that he would disappear again.

"You should leave," Matthew mumbled and Gilbert's brows furrowed. He dared to pull away, but his hands remained on his shoulders to stare at those beautiful violet eyes. But Matthew's face wasn't smiling and happy like it used to be, he was frowning and those violet eyes were filled with concern.

"What?" Gilbert asked. "You disappear out of the fucking blue and I don't see you for fucking days and you just tell me to leave?"

"Please," Matthew begged. "You really need to leave. Before you get hurt."

"Why would I get hurt?" Gilbert asked. "What the fuck is going on? Where did you go?"

"I can't tell you," Matthew shook his head. "Please, just leave. You need to trust me. Just go home and don't come back."

"Why?" Gilbert demanded.

"You two," a teacher passing them by glared at the two of them. "Get to class."

"Just leave," Matthew shook his head and quickly ran off, into the hallway, in the opposite direction of where their homeroom was. Gilbert simply blinked at him and stood still for a second before running after him.

Gilbert quickly looked into the nearest turn, having seen Matthew run into that hallway, but he couldn't see him. He damned the fact that he didn't have any x-ray vision that day and ran further in hopes of finding Matthew, but he couldn't see him anywhere, he even glanced into the rooms in the hallway with no sight of him. Gilbert cursed under his breath when the first bell rang. If Matthew had disappeared for homeroom, he would most likely disappear for all of his other classes. Gilbert couldn't afford to miss an entire day of school for the sake of finding Matthew, his brother would chew him out and then his parents, most likely. And he was already feeling nearly too tired to move. He walked through the hallways, pushed around by the various people until he was pretty sure he'd made it to his next class. He ignored everyone else in the class, including the teacher, simply staring at the empty seat that Matthew usually sat in. He was fucking back, he saw him, another teacher saw him, so what the fuck was wrong? Where had he been?

* * *

"Gilbert, what is the matter with you today?" Francis sighed dramatically at lunch, glaring at the food he was forced to get from the cafeteria since he apparently hadn't had the time that morning to make his own meal.

"Si, it is very weird to see you this down, mi amigo," Antonio said. "You're even worse that you were earlier today. What happened?"

"Did you get an update text from ton amour about how he was doing?" Francis snickered and Gilbert sighed, shaking his head. That shut his friends up. They were alone for now, since Feliciano and Lovino were off to help the cooking class, Arthur refused to sit with the three alone, and Alfred was probably off sulking somewhere. Gilbert had no idea where Ludwig had gone off to, but that wasn't exactly important right now. He kept looking deep into the lunch room in an effort to see Matthew, any sign of him anywhere, but he wasn't having any luck.

"Gilbert," Antonio said seriously and Gilbert looked back at his friend across from him, Francis was beside him. "What is wrong?"

"I don't even think there's a way to start," Gilbert put his head in his hands, glaring at the table. "It's all just so fucked up, I can't figure any of it out."

"You know you can tell us anything," Francis offered with a smile.

"Trust me, I can't," Gilbert muttered. Francis hated mutants, Antonio couldn't keep a secret. Gilbert didn't have anything that he could do to try to explain this situation and he wasn't sure if Alfred wanted people knowing that his brother was missing and Gilbert wasn't even sure if he should tell Alfred that his brother was back.

"Well, perhaps maybe this will cheer you up," Francis muttered, sounding very confused, actually. "It appears that Mathieu is no longer sick."

"What?" Gilbert's head shot up to look at where Francis was looking and then immediately looked over. Matthew, hand rubbing into his other arm harshly, was walking quickly from one end of the cafeteria to the opposite end, which faced the wall. "Birdie," Gilbert immediately stood up and jogged after Matthew.

"Gil, you should really, really, leave," Matthew said quickly, not looking back. "You're not safe."

"Not fucking safe? What does that mean?" Gilbert placed a hand on Matthew's shoulder to turn him around.

"I really wish there was an easier way to do this," Matthew shook his head. "But if I had talked…" The boy looked like he was near tears and Gilbert noticed through the bags under his eyes that he had probably gotten just as much sleep as Gilbert had been getting. "I'm sorry. You should leave while you can." With a strength Gilbert didn't know Matthew had, he pushed off Gilbert's hands and continued to the other end of the lunch room.

"Matthew!" Gilbert snapped, following him closely. "Tell me what the hell is going on! You know I'll help you, no matter what! I don't care if I lose my secret! What is going on! Just tell me!"

"I can't." Matthew reached the end of the cafeteria and turned around with very sad eyes and shook his head. "I'm sorry."

"About what?"

Gilbert had barely finished his sentence when something slammed hard into his gut that he couldn't see and he went flying. He slammed into the table closest behind him and slid back a little on it, making the girls at the table snap at him.

"What the fuck?" Gilbert muttered, propping himself on his elbows and wincing at the pain in his gut to look at Matthew, who looked like he was about to cry. Matthew looked at Gilbert for only a second before he turned his head to the ceiling of the right side of the cafeteria, close to where Antonio and Francis were sitting, paying no mind to what was going on. Suddenly, a massive crack appeared out of nowhere on the ceiling, followed by another one and Gilbert could easily tell that it would fall. He cursed under his breath and stood as quickly as he could on the table, outstretching his hand.

The ceiling crumbled, making a massive racket, and taking ventilation with it. Luckily, there was no classroom above the lunchroom, so no one above was hurt, but many people screamed when they noticed it. Gilbert placed a box of energy to catch the debris and the girls at the table he was at seemed to be suffering from a mix of delight and fear.

"Matthew!" Gilbert snapped over the panic that had started, choosing to look in the opposite direction of where Francis and Antonio were. "What the fuck are you doing? How are you doing this?"

"I can't tell you," Matthew mumbled before looking right at him. Again, something hard slammed into Gilbert's stomach, making him cough blood, and he flew across the cafeteria, slamming into several tables and he heard a massive crash of the ceiling finally hitting the ground.

"Fuck," Gilbert grumbled on the ground, where he'd finally landed. Multiple people were staring at him, willing him to do something. He slowly stood, but froze when he heard more screaming, along with more of the ceiling beginning to crumble directly above him. "Move!" He shouted at the others around him and they, thankfully, obeyed and Gilbert placed a box around him just as the ceiling fell. It was a lot to keep up and he was already getting weak, but he was able to push it off eventually by slowly making the box bigger and bigger. As soon as he was freed of the debris, he could see that the kids still in the cafeteria were staring at Gilbert, who glanced at Matthew. He wasn't being obvious about it at all, just standing there and…somehow causing all of this. But why?

Matthew looked up at what remained of the ceiling and Gilbert immediately placed an energy construct around it to stop it from falling over those that remained in the room. Matthew simply looked at him with sad eyes and Gilbert gritted his teeth. Matthew glanced at a few of the kids and they were sent flying towards a wall, screaming. Gilbert immediately abandoned the ceiling to carefully catch the kids in an energy construct. Only a few seemed thankful as they ran as quickly as they could out of there. More of the ceiling fell, but there were hardly any kids left, none of them in that location, and Gilbert let it fall. Before he could even see Matthew again, he felt something slam into his gut again and he flew back, into the wall. He heard and felt many things break that time, in the wall and in his body as well. His vision was beginning to tunnel, but he couldn't allow himself to pass out now. He slowly attempted to stand up, but he could see Matthew carefully walking around the debris, biting his lip. Another slam into his gut and Gilbert hit the wall hard again, everything going black for about half a second.

When Gilbert opened his eyes again, he was on the ground, receiving a hard kick in the stomach from someone he couldn't see. He coughed up some kind of liquid, he wasn't sure, and he could vaguely hear something, like people talking.

"Freak. You caused this! What the fuck is wrong with you!" Another rough kick. Gilbert recognized that voice…

"Mathias," a voice said coldly and Gilbert knew that one. He looked up and, even with his vision swimming constantly, he could see his brother. "Stop."

"What? Are you a freak, too? Where you the other mutant that did this?"

"Leave," Ludwig commanded. "This doesn't concern you, any of you. Now, leave, and allow me to help me brother in peace."

"Thanks, West," Gilbert wheezed out and a careful, yet rough hand was on his shoulder. Gilbert closed his eyes in an attempt to keep his vision from swimming and making his head ache even more than it already did.

"Don't try to act tough now," Ludwig stated. "Go back to sleep, I'll make sure you're safe."

"Birdie," Gilbert said and opened his eyes again, but that proved to be a bad idea since he saw four different Ludwigs…or were there more? The Ludwigs shook their heads and glanced in another direction.

"I won't ask you any questions until you're up to it," Ludwig sighed and Gilbert closed his eyes again, feeling himself slowly begin to drift away. "There's an ambulance on the way, thanks to you, you're the only injured. So rest now, it looks like the culprit is gone."

Gilbert wanted to say something, he really did, but he slowly started to feel himself drift, no matter how hard he tried to clamor to try to keep hold of his consciousness, he slowly slipped off into the nice abyss, where he didn't feel his pain.

* * *

Alfred couldn't believe it. He'd come late to lunch because he was asking a teacher for help, and he came back to the ceiling coming down and people screaming and…were those Energy's constructs? The more he had looked, the more confused he'd gotten. It looked like Gilbert was the one controlling the constructs, trying to make sure everyone was protected, but Alfred couldn't see the culprit. And then he saw Matthew. He honestly couldn't believe it, Matthew, safe and sound, simply walking across the rubble towards Gilbert. And then Gilbert was slammed into the wall again, which knocked him out, and Alfred looked at his brother in confusion, but Matthew looked like he was about to pass out.

Alfred ran for his brother, tripping multiple times over the rubble, and was able to make it in time to catch Matthew before he hit the ground. Quite a few of the mutant haters in the school immediately circled around Gilbert, shouting and laughing and having fun, and Alfred really wanted to stop them, help Gilbert, but Matthew's breathing was labored, he had no idea what was wrong with him.

"Fredka, you are safe," Ivan sighed with relief and Ludwig intervened with the people, so Alfred allowed himself to turn his attention to Ivan, who quickly made his way over. "Matvey?"

"I honestly have no idea," Alfred shook his head, holding his brother. Matthew's face was red and his breathing was quickly becoming more erratic, so Alfred held him closer. Where the hell had his brother gone off to and what had happened to him? Did he…cause all of this? Why? How? And was Gilbert really Energy?

* * *

**Well, shit went down. I really tried not to rush this chapter, because I've had it in mind for a very long time, and I'm pretty happy with it. It was a sort of, not really fight scene, and it was very fun to write, despite the fact that it caused a lot of problems for Gilbert. So, how has all of this happened? We will find out next chapter, my dears…probably.**

**Anyway, please review! It makes my world go round!**


	18. Story Time

Alfred sat on the couch with his head in his hands. He was…scared. He was nervous, he had no idea what to do. If he hadn't known Ludwig, he had no idea what he would have done at all. Ludwig had seen the state of Matthew, realizing that the boy was definitely worse for wear, and didn't ask questions. He had simply said that they could go to where the Beilschmidts lived and Ludwig would offer help. Alfred didn't see any better option, really. Ludwig had called upon a few doctors that were apparently paid generously for secrecy and to ensure nothing would happen to Gilbert with his secret revealed now. Alfred had been kicked out of the room Matthew was in while the doctors looked him over and that was obviously not a very good sign.

"Mon dieu! It took a whole hour to make it up here," Francis sighed dramatically from the elevator and Alfred glanced over. He had forgotten that they had left behind friends when they left. Maybe Ludwig did, too, but he was busy with Gilbert at that moment. Francis, Antonio, Feliciano, Lovino, and Arthur were coming from the elevator, all of them looking equally concerned, even Lovino.

"I was right!" Feliciano cheered, running over to Alfred. "Alfredo would be here if he wasn't at the school."

"Do you know anything of what happened there?" Arthur asked.

"Well, there is one obvious part," Antonio muttered, glancing in the direction of where Gilbert's room was, which just so happened to be in the same direction as Matthew.

"Does Matthew know about anything that happened?" Feliciano asked. "I think he should at least know, even if he is sick."

"He was at school," Francis muttered. "We saw him before what happened, Gilbert ran after him."

"Matt wasn't sick," Alfred sighed. He might as well just tell the group now. He was planning on doing it sooner or later if Matthew never came back, but now of all times would be great. Even if he didn't know anything of what happened in the cafeteria. "He was…he was missing."

Everyone was quiet for a moment, leaving the room to feel almost eerie, despite it being perfectly quiet a few moments ago.

"And you didn't fucking tell us?" Lovino was the first to talk. "What the hell is wrong with you, idiot? We would've fucking helped you look for him!"

"How?" Alfred asked, sounding a little angrier than he really was, so he took a moment to take a breath and calm himself. "These men just came out of nowhere, fucking tased me, and then left. I didn't even get a good look at their car and they disappeared. How would anyone help me when even the police admitted they could only put in a missing person's report? They didn't know where to look! I didn't know where to look! I even went to…to Energy…He didn't even find him."

"You said he _was _missing," Arthur said and Alfred sighed, shaking his head.

"It doesn't make any sense to me. He was in the cafeteria today, standing in the rubble of what happened, and he passed out. He has a fever and doctors are…" Alfred trailed off. He didn't know what to say, he didn't know what to think, he couldn't understand anything. He wasn't even sure why Francis was there. Sure, Gilbert was his best friend, but he'd expressed a hatred for mutants several times over. On the off chance that Matthew was…somehow a mutant, Francis might hate him, too.

"Are both of them alright?" Francis asked sincerely and Alfred shrugged dumbly. That was all he could do.

"I was kicked out of Mattie's room a half an hour ago," Alfred sighed. "And last I saw of Gilbert was right after Mathias tried to beat him up." It was all so fucked up. Alfred ran a hand through his mussed up hair and Feliciano plopped down next to him.

"You know, there's this huge crowd right outside this building," Feliciano hummed. "Some of them are angry people that the doormen and police are fighting off. Others…they're really happy. It made it on the news everywhere that Gilbert is Energy, thanks to all of the kids during the incident on their phones. The media's picked it up as a true story, si? The people that are happy know that Gilbert's a good guy with what he's doing and the bad people…they only think they should hate him because he's a mutant, they don't even know him. And they think he caused the damage at the school, but we all know those aren't Gilbert's powers. I'm not going to outright say anything, but if something had happened to Matthew to…help that along, I don't think any of us would care. We know what he's like and we have no idea what made him act like that."

"You're a lot smarter than I give you credit for, dude," Alfred gave a small smile and chuckle, glancing at Feliciano, who shrugged with his usual ditsy smile. Alfred looked back at the others, who appeared to be relatively deep in thought. "If I'm going to be honest here, I have no idea what happened in the cafeteria, I came in kinda late to the party. If you want the story, I would say you should go to Gilbert for that one. But I have no clue when either of them are actually going to wake up."

"Ask any questions you want," a croaking voice spoke up and Alfred immediately looked over to see Gilbert in the hallway, leaning heavily against the wall. He looked mostly tired, but more or less healed.

* * *

The second Gilbert opened his eyes, he sat upright, but his stomach flipped and he felt pain everywhere and he groaned.

"Gilbert, lie back down," Ludwig commanded and Gilbert noticed him for the first time. Ludwig quickly pushed Gilbert back to lie down and he didn't fight it. As Gilbert looked around, he noticed that he did know this place, it was his room. How long had he been out? He felt exhausted and in pain, but one thought managed to worm its way into his head. Matthew.

"Where's Matthew?" Gilbert's voice croaked.

"He's safe," Ludwig said simply and Gilbert noticed more people in the room, two, but they were doctors or something. "He is in another room, Alfred is also here. You should rest."

"No," Gilbert shook his head. "I can't. Please. Let me see Matthew."

"You need to rest," Ludwig said, a little more forcefully.

"You know I'm stronger than you," Gilbert gave a half-assed smirk. "Please. Just let me see him. I don't care if it's only for a second, I need to see him. You don't even know what happened. Please, West. I have to."

"Rest," Ludwig said resolutely and Gilbert sighed. He had no idea how well his strength would work when he was so exhausted, but he could at least try. He slowly sat up, easily overcoming Ludwig's attempts to keep him down.

"I have to see him," Gilbert said before slowly getting up, off of the bed. He stood on shaky feet and Ludwig looked him over wearily. "Relax, West, I'm fine."

"That is what concerns me," Ludwig muttered. "Have you always healed this fast?"

"I thought that was normal," Gilbert shrugged half-heartedly. He still felt like shit, but looking himself over, his bruises and scrapes were healing up just as normally as they usually did. "What? Did I have another power I didn't know about?"

"Evidently," Ludwig muttered. "Some of these are older, though, you didn't tell me you were still fighting, even while you were this exhausted."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine in about a week," Gilbert shrugged.

"You will need to explain everything that happened," Ludwig stated. "As soon as you are well rested."

"You've got a lot of patience there," Gilbert laughed, carefully walking over to the door. He was still in the torn clothing he had on earlier, but now he was barefoot, which he really didn't mind all that much. The doctors seemed weary of him, but Gilbert just ignored them. "If I were in your place, I'd demand to know everything that happened. But that's one hell of a story."

He opened the door and he could hear people talking, not just Alfred, but Francis, Feliciano, Lovino, Antonio, Arthur. Where they all there? Ludwig lead Gilbert to the guest bedroom just across the hall and opened the door. Immediately, the two doctors inside looked over at them, but then resumed what they were doing. There was more equipment in this room. Matthew was hooked up to monitors that were checking everything, like he was in an actual hospital. Matthew was resting peacefully and that made Gilbert relax slightly. The monitors, however, didn't look right. The doctors were putting something into Matthew with a syringe and that seemed to help, but marginally. His temperature was skyrocketing, despite the fact that the doctors had put ice packs around him.

"I would suggest not staying in here for long," Ludwig said and Gilbert nodded numbly before walking up to Matthew, the doctors moving away from him slightly. Gilbert chose to ignore them for the time being.

"I'm sorry, Birdie," Gilbert muttered, carefully placing a hand on Matthew's arm, which was burning hot. It was only then that Gilbert saw the uneven breathing and how truly red Matthew's face was, his hair plastered with sweat. Suddenly, Gilbert was overcome with images, seemingly random, that he didn't have the time to fully register, but he did hear something, but he knew it wasn't out loud in the room, it was just in his head. Matthew was screaming.

Gilbert ripped his hand away and it stopped as he stumbled backwards slightly.

"Any doctor that has touched him directly has heard the scream and seen the images, there is no explanation," Ludwig explained carefully, placing a hand on Gilbert's shoulder.

"So he really is a mutant now," Gilbert muttered. "I'll explain in a second, I'm sure everyone else wants to know, too." Gilbert stepped around Ludwig and back into the hall, sparing Matthew one last glance before walking towards the living room, where all of his friends stood.

"If you want the story," Alfred sighed heavily and Gilbert smirked, trying to plaster on his usual attitude, "I would say you should go to Gilbert for that one. But I have no clue when either of them are actually going to wake up."

"Ask any questions you want," Gilbert said, his voice still hoarse. Everyone turned to look at him, surprised, and Gilbert had to lean against the closest wall to keep himself standing. He was exhausted and sleep did actually sound extremely good, but he couldn't just leave everyone with more questions.

"What happened?" Alfred blurted out first and Gilbert immediately looked to him. He would avoid looking at Francis for the time being.

"Birdie came to school," Gilbert shrugged. "I took my time getting to homeroom and I saw him walk in. He told me to go home, for my own safety, and he disappeared into some classroom. I didn't see him until lunch and he still told me to go home, but I didn't listen. I had to know where he had gone missing to." Gilbert winced when he realized the others didn't know this story. "I can explain that later."

"Way ahead of you," Alfred muttered and Gilbert nodded.

"Anyway, I don't know how or why, but it looks like Matthew has mutant abilities now. He was able to make me go flying just by looking at me and he could make the ceiling fall without moving a muscle. I don't get it and I tried to save as many people as possible, but I was exhausted. Still am. This has probably been the most sleep I've had for over a week. I've been looking for him since he disappeared. Al told me what happened and I didn't tell any of you because he didn't want you to know, sorry."

"How long have you been a mutant?" Francis chimed in and Gilbert winced.

"Since I was a kid," Gilbert muttered. "I dunno, six or seven?"

"Why'd you decide to become Energy?" Feliciano asked.

"I didn't want to hide," Gilbert shrugged. "There are millions of mutants that just hide because they're scared and I refused to be like them. I wanted to make a difference. Guess I have no choice about the hiding thing now."

"Do you know who did this? Who kidnapped Matthew and did this to him?" Arthur asked.

"No idea," Gilbert muttered. "I'm pretty sure I've made enemies, but none that knew my secret identity. I don't know why they'd hit me with Matthew, of all people. He knew who I was, maybe that was one reason, but how they knew that was beyond me."

"You should get back to sleep," Ludwig stated simply and Gilbert nodded in agreement. It was hard to keep his eyes open at this point, he felt like he was about to collapse.

"Al," Gilbert said as he stood up, swaying slightly. "You should go see your brother. I think he needs it." Alfred immediately nodded and stood up, walking into the hallway. "The rest of you can stay or leave or whatever you want."

Alfred walked behind them as Gilbert stumbled towards his room, but he stopped, much to Ludwig's chagrin.

"Get Ivan," Gilbert said simply to Alfred, who looked confused. "He kept my secret, I've been keeping his, I know you know. At least, you should. For someone who's in hiding, he's not good at hiding it."

"You mean you know that he's a mutant?" Alfred asked.

"Yes," Gilbert sighed. "It's a long story. But get him over here, he'll help with Matthew's fever, it's almost out of control."

"How will he help it, by making it warmer?" Alfred asked.

"What?" Gilbert asked. Last he knew, Ivan only knew how to make things cold, not hot. "That's new. But, no, he'll make him fucking colder, genius. Get him over here if you want to help Matthew out. And…don't touch him, it won't help either of you."

With that last bit of advice, Gilbert allowed Ludwig to lead him into his room and he quickly collapsed onto his bed.

* * *

"Why aren't we acting now?" Roderich sighed exasperatedly into the phone. It was rare that the boss would talk to him, but even rarer for it to be in person. Since Roderich was heading up this search for Energy, though, it made sense that the boss would want to talk to him. "He's weak and vulnerable."

"_Just be patient. His home is surrounded by people. Sure, there are some fans, but they're outnumbered by the people just like us, that hate the mutants. His resolve is still high, he would be able to fight, even with how exhausted he is. Give it time, let it sink in that everyone hates him, and then we can take him. Once he is weak in the mind, we'll get rid of the fucking freak and the one we created._"

"Yes, sir," Roderich nodded slowly. The call ended and he let out a sigh, running a hand through his hair. He was home, but he still couldn't escape his work that overshadowed him every day of his life. Elizabeta was in the kitchen, cooking something that even she wasn't paying attention to. She had been quiet these past few days at home, like she was guilty. Roderich had been quiet as well, but he knew he was doing this for the good of humanity and he reminded Elizabeta about that, but she seemed to be less convinced.

He reached for his phone again and dialed another number. He wanted to end this as fast as possible and he was sure the boss wouldn't mind either way what happened, as long as they got Energy.

"_Hello?_" came the hesitant and scared voice on the other end of the line.

"I have one more job for you that will ensure your safety."

* * *

**Lots of things happened, this is my longest chapter in a while and I'm very proud of it, yay! In other news, I'm finally back to binge watching anime and I've finished Kill la Kill and my life is happy. Anyway, things are getting exciting in here and I will see y'all tomorrow!**

**Please review!**


	19. Betrayal

The next time Gilbert woke up, it wasn't Ludwig in his room, but rather someone he never expected. Francis was simply sitting on a chair fairly close by and looking out the windows, which were only mostly dimmed. Gilbert chose not to say anything for the time being and simply looked out the windows as well. He still felt exhausted but he felt like he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, especially not with his friend or…former friend nearby like that. What was he doing in his room alone?

"I know you are awake, mon ami," Francis chuckled airily and Gilbert bit his lip, saying nothing yet again. "It is very odd for you to be quiet for this long."

"Why are you here?" Gilbert asked, his voice raspy. He cleared his throat, still not looking at Francis.

"Ludwig needed rest," Francis chatted simply, like nothing had changed, like Gilbert's identity hadn't been spilled just the other day. "He was looking over you constantly and we decided we would take turns watching while he rested. It is my turn for another hour or so."

"I'm a mutant."

"Oui?"

"You hate mutants."

"Ah," Francis laughed slightly. "I see. Well, I perhaps spend a little too much time observing the news from, apparently, the wrong sources. All they fed me was news on the bad mutants to prove a point and I agreed with them completely. But I know you. You are not evil and Energy has never hurt the innocent, so I have to admit that maybe I was wrong, maybe there are mutants that aren't half bad. Even if I still hated mutants, I could never hate you."

Gilbert turned over to look at Francis. He had no idea how long he'd been asleep, but it seemed that all of his wounds were gone and that was good. The Frenchman offered him a smile and Gilbert couldn't help but laugh. Who the hell was he kidding? Francis had been his friend for years and he wasn't petty enough to actually hate Gilbert for a stupid reason like that. If he was, they would have never been friends based on their original nationalities.

"I'm a fucking idiot, aren't I?" Gilbert laughed.

"Did you know that Mathieu and Alfred both have reasons to hate mutants as well?" Francis asked and Gilbert's laughing stopped. "Alfred told me the story and said that neither him or Mathieu really care if their story is told. Their parents were killed by a mutant on public transportation."

"He never told me that," Gilbert muttered, slowly sitting up. He noticed that he was actually out of those ratty clothes and rather just in pajama pants that he didn't really care for.

"I guess it never came up," Francis shrugged. "However, after I heard that story, of people that had full reason to hate mutants and chose not to, I thought of how petty I was for hating mutants merely due to news stories. I do feel rather…stupide."

"We're all fucking idiots, Franny, don't worry about it," Gilbert smirked. He rubbed at his eyes and yawned, but he knew he wouldn't be able to get to sleep. Francis didn't seem like he was about to force Gilbert to go to bed. "Speaking of Birdie, how is he doing?"

"Better, if only slightly," Francis sighed. "I know you will not like this, but Alfred invited Ivan over. He said it was because Ivan is Mathieu's friend and he deserved to know what was going on."

"That's fine, don't worry about it," Gilbert yawned.

"His fever has gone down, but he still hasn't woken up," Francis said. "It has been two days."

"I've been asleep for two fucking days?" Gilbert asked.

"Well, you've woken up a few other times, but I'm sure you don't remember those," Francis shrugged. "I believe it was Antonio who was in here when you tried to piss out the window." Gilbert snickered. He'd tried to do that conscious. But he had to stay focused on the matter at hand. Matthew still wasn't awake. "Mathieu has not moved and the only thing that has improved has been the fever. It seems his nightmares have gotten worse, you no longer need to touch him to hear or see it. I don't think Alfred or Ivan have left the room since they've gone in."

"I have to see him," Gilbert stood up and, despite feeling slightly light-headed and uneven on his feet, he headed straight for his closet to get a shirt. No way in hell would he willingly stand shirtless in front of Ivan. Last time that happened (don't ask questions), Ivan nearly froze him. He tore a random jacket from its hanger and swiftly put it on while Francis watched.

"I'm afraid I will have to not go with you," Francis muttered. "I can only handle so much in one room. Ivan is enough by himself, but then you add in the sexual tension between him and Alfred, and those nightmares are terrifying."

"Pussy," Gilbert smirked before leaving his room and going straight to Matthew's. He was sure he'd heard Feliciano try to say something to him, but Gilbert ignored it and opened the door to the room Matthew was in. Immediately upon having his hand on the door knob, he felt nauseous. He swallowed thickly and opened the door. He could definitely hear the screams, but he could clearly see that Matthew was fast asleep, his mouth closed. He closed the door quickly, feeling like he was betraying the privacy by allowing the screams to be heard elsewhere. "You two better not be fucking making out in here." He glanced at Ivan and Alfred, who were sitting on a small couch that was most likely moved into the room. Alfred had definite bags under his eyes and Ivan simply gave him a half-hearted glare.

"Your advice didn't work very well," Alfred muttered. "Getting rid of the fever didn't do anything."

"It gave us one less thing to worry about," Gilbert sighed and walked over to Matthew. The screams were loud enough that Gilbert could say something quietly and the two in the room would never hear it. "I'm sorry, Birdie. I promised you that you wouldn't wind up like a love interest in some comic book and I failed to protect you. I swear that I fucking tried, I stayed up for days, I skipped school, I was trying to find you every second of the day. And I'm sorry you've wound up like me, some freak people won't want to look twice at."

And, suddenly, the screams started to stop. At first, they lessened slowly and slowly and eventually stopped. Alfred stood from his chair while Ivan remained fairly confused, but didn't say anything.

"Dude, whatever you just did, keep going," Alfred said. Gilbert nodded dumbly and went to hold onto Matthew's hand. He felt kind of stupid doing this in front of people, let alone his boyfriend's brother and his boyfriend, but whatever.

"I'm going to be right here, so don't be scared," Gilbert continued to whisper, hoping that the other two couldn't hear him being sappy. The only person that he would ever allow to hear him being sappy would be Matthew. No one else. "I'll help you through it. No matter what. I don't care about what you did or why you did it, it obviously wasn't your choice and I'm fine now. I swear, I won't let anything hurt you again." And then Gilbert chanced his luck and kissed Matthew's forehead with the two watching. The air in the room, the suffocating anxiety and depression lifted and was replaced with something a little happier, more relaxed.

"Holy shit," Alfred muttered. "I've been trying that for the past two days and you just…I feel like I should be jealous, dude."

"I'm a natural," Gilbert smirked, still holding on tightly to Matthew's hand. The boy's features had yet to change, but at least he was no longer screaming…at least audibly.

"Do you know who could have done this?" Ivan asked.

"I have no idea," Gilbert shook his head. "He definitely wasn't a mutant before, so they did something to him. I don't know what or how or why, but they fucked with him and I'm going to fuck with them right back."

"I would not rush into that kind of thought," Ivan said. "What if their attempt was to fuck with you by doing this? It is possible that their original goal was Energy."

"Then they can come and try to get me," Gilbert growled. "And they can go fuck themselves because when they try it, I'll stop their little operation right then and there."

"They're masters at playing dirty tricks," Alfred muttered. "It won't be easy. If you want help, you just need to ask."

"I'm not dragging any of you into my drama," Gilbert shook his head. "Look what happened to the last one that happened to. All I did was tell him my identity, more like he found out, and look what happened. This is partially my own fault. I'm going to find who did this and I'm going to make them pay, no matter what."

"Then I wish you luck, comrade," Ivan said. "You will need it if you intend to do this alone."

* * *

"Why do we have to watch the news?" Gilbert sighed from where he was on the couch. Every single news station said the same thing. Everyone was freaking out due to the reveal of Energy's identity. Thousands had flocked to their building in hopes of either seeing him or killing him. The Beilschmidt private security force had the place under lockdown and that was part of the reason why none of their friends could leave. Several newscasters were expressing their hatred towards a mutant that would "dare to hide among the humans" and several more were "joking" by saying they'd be willing to pay for someone who could cause Gilbert pain.

Gilbert had no idea why everyone was so riled up about all of this, the only thing that changed was now Energy was a person. He had always been a mutant, but one that no one could pinpoint. Some people that Energy had managed to lock up had escaped prison and Gilbert was sure that they'd be after him now that his identity was known. It was all just so complicated and confusing. And all of this hatred left him feeling rather…lost.

"People need to get over their fucking petty thoughts," Lovino grumbled, flipping through channel after channel that just made the hatred of Gilbert Beilschmidt more known. "Idiotas! Isn't there any other fucking news you could broadcast about?!"

"We could try watching Disney Channel," Feliciano chimed in and Gilbert and Lovino simply glared at him.

"I'm not watching your fucking dog that can blog," Lovino snapped and Gilbert smirked slightly, but it fell shortly after. It was well into the night, probably 10 or so, but Gilbert felt like he'd slept enough for a lifetime. He needed to stretch his legs, go out and do something. Several of the others had already gone to sleep and Ludwig was still nowhere to be seen.

Gilbert yawned once again and he got an idea.

"I'm gonna head to bed," Gilbert sighed before standing up. "Be sure to tell me if there's any positive news about me."

"Oprah liked you an hour ago," Lovino remarked and Gilbert rolled his eyes before making his way to his room. Biting his lip, Gilbert went and tested the window he'd rigged to open for him and it happily swung out. Gilbert tentatively stepped onto it before he faced the wind coming onto the tall building. He created very small boxes of energy he used to climb up the side of the building to ensure he wasn't seen in the darkness. He was dressed in dark colors, so as long as no one paid close attention, he would be fine. He made it to the top of the building in no time and smirked, rubbing his hands together. It was kind of cold, but it was nice to get some outdoor air, even if it was from New York.

Gilbert quickly ran across the roof of the building and continued running off of it, his constructs under his feet. He was on the opposite side of the building where the crowd was and smirked when hardly anyone looked up. He could make it by unseen. Before long, he was a fair distance from his penthouse and close to his goal, that little apartment that held a friend that he hoped hadn't changed his opinion on him.

Despite the time of day, the window was open and light poured out of it. There was a sound of Japanese people coming out of it and Gilbert could only guess that Kiku was watching anime.

"Hey, Kiku," Gilbert said into the open window. He looked in and saw that Kiku had been sitting on his couch and had actually stiffened at the sound of Gilbert's voice, but relaxed slightly when he turned his head towards him.

"Ah, Energy," Kiku nodded. "Or, should I call you Gilbert now?"

"I think Energy's dead now," Gilbert smirked slightly, leaning heavily into the windowsill. "It'll just be good ol' Gilbert for the time being. You been watching the news?"

"It appears a lot of society hates you," Kiku nodded slowly. "Would you like to come in for some tea? I just recently made some."

"You know, I really wouldn't mind," Gilbert smirked and carefully made his way into Kiku's apartment. He knew how Kiku was about shoes (though he'd never stepped foot in the apartment before) and was actually kind of happy that he was still barefoot. "As long as you don't, of course."

"Your timing is perfect," Kiku offered a smile, but Gilbert noticed immediately that there was something…wrong about it.

"Is something wrong?" Gilbert asked conversationally as Kiku stood from his couch and walked over to where his tea pot stood. "You seem kinda nervous."

"It is just late, is all," Kiku said. "I have not slept much the past few days."

"I've had more than enough sleep to last me years," Gilbert sighed and Kiku nodded, pouring out tea into two cups, one of which he had carried over from the couch. The liquid steamed out of the cup and Gilbert smirked. Going to this guy to de-stress was an awesome idea, if he did say so himself.

"I must apologize," Kiku muttered as he walked up to Gilbert, the tea in his hand.

"For what?" Gilbert scoffed. Kiku sighed heavily, not looking up at him for a few seconds.

"This," Kiku glanced up at him before the burning hot tea was splashed directly in Gilbert's eyes.

* * *

**Hehe…cliffhangers. On the bright side, Gilbert got Matthew to calm down, how cute and fluffy is that? Use that to distract you from the fact that Kiku just attacked Gilbert with hot tea. And there was a very nice bonding moment between Gil and Francis, which is also cool! Anyway, you'll have to deal with this cliffhanger until I update next.**

**In the meantime, please review!**


	20. In And Out

Gilbert cursed at the burning liquid and immediately stumbled back before a rough kick landed in his gut, proving that Gilbert hadn't fully healed there yet.

"What the fuck?" Gilbert snapped before going to try to tackle Kiku to the ground to get answers, but Kiku did something that had Gilbert's eyes wide. The man simply moved _through_ Gilbert's arms. Was everyone a mutant now? Kiku then produced a little syringe and Gilbert immediately got to his feet. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I really am sorry," Kiku sighed, shaking his head. His grip on the syringe was shaking and Gilbert made sure he kept a good distance from the man. "This is the only way I can stay alive. I feel cowardly, but it is the truth."

"The people that took Matthew," Gilbert said slowly. "Do you…work for them?"

"Not quite," Kiku gave a soft, shaky smile that fell quickly. "I don't get paid in money." Kiku lunged forward and Gilbert moved out of the way of the syringe, putting up an energy construct just in case he wasn't careful enough. Kiku didn't waste any time and went for him again and Gilbert barely managed to kick his legs to make the man stumble onto the ground.

"What do you know about them?" Gilbert demanded. "Tell me!"

"I do not think you are in a place to demand anything from me," Kiku sighed and disappeared through the floor. Gilbert cursed and placed a construct under his feet, constantly looking behind his back. Whatever was in that syringe would not be good and he had to be careful. There was no way in hell that he'd wind up like Matthew, whatever really happened to him. "I really am sorry, Energy," Gilbert heard the man and nearly screamed when he saw Kiku's head coming through his energy construct and the man slammed the syringe into Gilbert's calf.

Immediately, pain coursed through him and Gilbert let out a strangled cry, crumbling to the ground to hold onto his leg. The pain quickly spread through the rest of his body and he felt himself twitching slightly.

"I am very sorry, if I could have gotten to your neck, this would have been less painful for you," Kiku muttered, but Gilbert could hardly hear him over the blood rushing through his head . He tried to crawl away, but his limbs were refusing to function for him. He could hardly breathe as he tried to search for some way out, anything to help him. His thoughts came slower and he eventually couldn't even remember what had him so stressed.

Then there was nothing.

* * *

In and out. Simple as that. What was that beeping sound? It was very relaxing. In and out. His eyelids were so heavy, but he felt like he needed to open them. It was bright. He closed his eyes again. In and out. He could hear something else, voices. He recognized them and it took him a moment to remember their names. Alfred. Ivan. In and out. He tried to open his eyes again and this time it wasn't so bright. He blinked a few times and his senses slowly swam back to him.

"-think he disappeared?" Alfred asked.

"Maybe he wanted to feel normal," Ivan offered and Matthew had to wonder who they were talking about. He was increasingly more aware of all of the monitors and IVs attached to him. "Go and act like a hero again."

"When do you think he'll be back?" Alfred asked impatiently. "Matt's gonna wake up any time now and Gil should be here."

Gilbert was gone? Why? Matthew looked around the room without moving his head. It definitely wasn't familiar to him. Matthew tried to move his head and his thoughts swam, making him nauseous, and he groaned.

"Mattie?" Alfred was quickly at his side and Matthew offered him a weak smile of reassurance. "Holy shit, dude, you're awake!" Alfred hugged him, moving Matthew off of the bed a little and Matthew's thoughts swam even more.

"Al," Matthew whispered, his voice softer than normal from lack of use. "P-Please put me down." Alfred immediately obeyed, giving Matthew an incredibly wide smile and made Matthew smile more as well. "Where is Gil?"

"No one knows," Alfred shrugged. "Ludwig's pissed because he found Gilbert's window open this morning. Dude, what the hell happened with you, though, we wanna know!"

"Do not rush him, Fredka," Ivan finally appeared as well and Matthew nodded slowly. Thinking too hard made his head ache and he knew it had something to do with the fact that he was a mutant now. He had no idea how much Alfred knew, or anyone else. Did Gilbert hate him because of what he did at the school? Could he explain why he couldn't stop himself? What about those nanobots? Were they still inside of him?

"Right, yeah, sorry," Alfred rubbed the back of his head. "Should I go ahead and tell the others he's woken up now?"

"Others?" Matthew asked.

"Everyone else is here!" Alfred said excitedly. "Feli, Lovino, Arthur, Antonio, Francis, everyone!"

"Where is here?" Matthew asked, unable to stop the smile that appeared on his face to know that people were there for him.

"Oh, right, yeah, almost forgot," Alfred chuckled slightly. "The Beilschmidt penthouse. This place is so sweet, dude. And they were able to hire private doctors and stuff, you know, considering you and Gilbert…uh…"

"Yeah, I know that part at least," Matthew sighed.

"On the bright side, though, you have cool freaking powers now!" Alfred offered happily. "What do you even have anyway? I couldn't even see you a few days ago."

"I'm not really sure, either," Matthew muttered. "It's…some kind of telekinesis, but it's more of just blasts and not moving things."

"Do you know if you've got anything else?" Alfred asked curiously. Matthew noticed that Ivan was smiling slightly, but he stood back and let the brothers have their little moment. "It's so cool that you're a mutant now, I mean not that you weren't cool before or anything, but it's like being infinitely more cool. Knowing Gilbert's Energy now makes him so much more awesome, but don't tell him I said that."

"I don't know if I have anything else," Matthew laughed slightly. "You don't mind Gil being Energy?"

"Why would I mind? I'm friends with a freaking super hero!" Alfred laughed. "That's badass! He just freaking swoops in and kicks the asses of bad guys and he hardly ever gets hurt! It's the coolest thing! And I guess it explains why Energy was getting his ass kicked while we were searching for you. Gilbert was tired as fuck the whole time."

"How long was I gone for?" Matthew asked. His sense of time had basically gone this whole time. It wouldn't surprise him if he was gone for over a week.

"About a weekish," Alfred said. "But I never stopped looking and neither did Ivan. Gilbert obviously didn't. I'm not even sure if he slept while he was looking for you." Matthew smiled slightly. It was sweet that Gilbert would do that, but it was still bad for his health. Matthew made a mental note to ensure that he scolded Gilbert for that when he saw him next.

"I should probably tell you what happened," Matthew muttered and attempted to sit upright. He felt a lot less dizzy this time and Alfred helped him and Matthew nodded to him with a small smile.

"You don't have to," Alfred said. "I mean, if it's too hard for you or something."

"It's fine," Matthew assured him. "But you just can't tell everyone else. It's…hard to explain, but one of the voices I heard sounded really familiar and I just can't explain it. When I know more, I'll tell the others."

"Sure," Alfred nodded.

"I will leave if you want privacy," Ivan offered from the back.

"I think it's fine," Matthew muttered. "So, I guess I'll start with the first time I was coherent."

* * *

"How is that even possible?" Roderich muttered under his breath and Elizabeta raised an eyebrow from where she was leaning against another part of his desk in the office. For a few minutes there, he was working on his "official" work as a part of the company's face, rather than the secret part. But he just got a message and now was typing furiously into passwords and back into the top secret parts of the company.

"What happened?" Elizabeta asked curiously, looking over his shoulder.

"The nanobots inside of Matthew," Roderich muttered. "They've…deactivated. If I didn't know better, I would say that they were destroyed. But how?"

"Could Matthew have done it with his powers?" Elizabeta asked, trying to look over Roderich's shoulder at what he was doing, but he read a lot faster than she did and she was simply left in the dust.

"It's a possibility," Roderich muttered. "But not a very likely one. He'd have to know where they are, how he could have deactivated them. Now when we take him back in after we have Energy, this will be more difficult. Considering the abilities he was given, it will take a lot to get him back here. What caused those nanobots to go offline?"

"I think it's the boss's fault," Elizabeta muttered, quietly, though. If anyone else heard her say such a thing, she would be fired immediately, and probably killed. "He got cocky and let the mutant he created loose and now we can't get him back in."

"Maybe if we get Energy first, we can use him as bait," Roderich offered, still typing at impossible speeds. "Energy will be far easier to take in than Matthew. Matthew's abilities, considering what they are now, are incredibly hard to overcome, but there is no telling what other ones he may gain. We should have kept him under supervision longer."

"What are the chances that he could still die from this?" Elizabeta dared to ask, despite the fact that she knew she wouldn't like the answer.

"A small possibility," Roderich muttered. "There is a chance that the nanobots deactivating has something to do with his death, but if he were alive by now, that would mean that he has stabilized and any chance of death is minimal." Elizabeta let out a small sigh of relief. From what she knew of the poor boy, she liked him.

And then Elizabeta's phone chimed. She immediately pulled it out and looked at it. No one called this phone unless it had something to do with mutants. The message she got, however, made her blood run cold.

"What is it, Elizabeta?" Roderich asked her before looking up at her. "What is wrong?"

"Your spy got Energy," Elizabeta muttered and Roderich stood up to read the message from the phone in her hand.

"This is good news, Elizabeta," Roderich said carefully. "This means that this will be over soon and we can take a break. A very much needed break. It will all be fine."

"I should go and check on him," Elizabeta said and quickly stepped away before leaving the room filled with people at their computers, not looking back at Roderich. He didn't understand her on this point. He wasn't conflicted about the mutants while Elizabeta was. She almost didn't want to see Energy…or rather Gilbert. She had already played a part in ruining the boy's life and she was about to help make it worse. If Roderich were in her place, he wouldn't care because the boy was a mutant, had been born a mutant, and was broadcasting that fault to the world as a hero that was unnecessary, as the police could handle these situations on their own.

Elizabeta walked to where they had put Gilbert, varying between a quick pace when she decided she would just get it over with and a slow pace when she thought she couldn't handle it. Finally, she made it to the room, which was startlingly similar to the one Matthew was held in. Gilbert was near the center, plugged into monitors and a little IV that made sure he stayed out cold. He was restrained on his wrists and ankles, as well as around his neck and waist just in case he would wake up and try to get out. Multiple people were in the room, all making sure that he was kept secure and in place. If it weren't for the fact that the boss had "tests" to run, he would have been killed already. Elizabeta almost felt bad for him.

"There you are," a scientist came up to her with an exasperated sigh. He apparently didn't want to be there and was happy for Elizabeta to replace him. "Don't let this one wake up. It's different than the last one in that it will probably fight to the death to get out of here. I don't think the restraints will keep it at bay for long, considering its strength, so keep that in mind." Elizabeta twitched every time the man called the boy an "it", but simply nodded and the man left as quickly as he possibly could. Elizabeta looked back at the boy and sighed, shaking her head. She walked up to him with a little more resolution than the others in the room, taking a few tools from the nearest table to at least make sure that Gilbert was in his top condition so that the boss's tests could work out in the way he wanted them to.

She opened one of Gilbert's eyes and was genuinely startled to see that they were red. She glanced at the rest of the boy's features, taking in the fact that he was albino. It was no wonder that the boy had worn a wig and contacts when he was acting as his hero counterpart. She shone a light in his eyes and they reacted fairly normally.

"I'm sorry," Elizabeta muttered under her breath to the boy, so no one else in the room could hear. "I really am."

* * *

**Well, Matthew's awake…and Gilbert is in the same position Matthew was a few chapters ago, except this time the boss has some experiments he wants to do, how intriguing. And Elizabeta's even more conflicted. Also, we now know the identity of the spy, who happens to be Kiku. Now, I don't want any of you to get mad at him, he's doing this for protection…so he can do something. He is important, no worries here, he's not that evil of a guy.**

**Sorry I didn't update yesterday, too, by the way. School's kicked my ass pretty hard. I am trying to get a bunch of short things up for October and Halloween and I've already posted the first chapter of a finished, short story called "Killers", it's a PruCan, but it's a little on the darker side of things. And eventually this month you can look forward to at least two more that will be up probably by next week, at least one of them. "Haunted House" and "Fallen Leaves" which will most likely also be PruCan.**

**Anyway, please review! It makes my life!**


	21. Stress

Gilbert was extremely pissed off. He had only really been passed out for a few minutes, and then he quickly realized that he had some kind of resistance to whatever they were using. It wasn't exactly like he could move on his own or open his eyes, but he could hear and he was fully aware of what was going on around him. Kiku had taken him…somewhere, a place where the mutant wasn't exactly welcomed warmly. Gilbert was strapped down and it would have made him smirk if he could. They were terrified of him.

He was in some room for a while before this chick came in and started to look him over like a doctor. But something did chill him to the bone, and that was this constant talk about prepping him for…experiments. He had absolutely no idea what he was getting himself into here and there really was no way out of it. And then, all of a sudden, the idle chatter in the room was silenced all at once.

"Wake him up," a man said, loud and clear and that alone was enough to terrify Gilbert. Whatever was keeping him knocked out slowly lessened and Gilbert hated the fact that his breathing came out more ragged, showing that he was actually scared. As soon as he could move his arms, he tried to go against the restraints as best he could, but nothing budged. "It's putting up more of a fight than the last one." The man chuckled and Gilbert opened his eyes to glare at the person. He'd never seen this man before, but there was something…familiar about him. "You're even more of a freak than I thought you'd be."

"Fuck off," Gilbert growled out. The man simply smirked and slammed his fist into Gilbert's face. His nose snapped and blood spurted out, but Gilbert couldn't even move his head and so he settled with a simple glare.

"Elizabeta, start the first one," the man demanded and took a small step back. A girl stood in front of him and Gilbert immediately noticed the conflicted look in her eyes. In any case, she quickly stabbed a needle into Gilbert's arm and injected something. Immediately, pain coursed through him and he let out a cry. The pain only grew worse and it turned into screams. He fought more against the restraints and they groaned in protest, but still didn't budge.

Eventually, the pain subsided and the man definitely looked disappointed. Gilbert wanted to make some kind of snide comment, but couldn't bring himself to gather the strength to speak.

"The mutant gene is harder to get than I thought," the man sighed theatrically. "Do the next one when he's back to his full strength again. I have to go find a way to clean up your other mess."

The man left and it seemed like everyone in the room let out a breath of relief. But they were still on edge thanks to the mutant in the middle of the room. Gilbert glanced over and noticed that the woman, Elizabeta, was checking over his vitals.

"What are you doing?" Gilbert barely managed to whisper out. Elizabeta jumped before biting her lip and looking away from Gilbert. "What are these experiments?"

"We're trying to create something that will kill mutants and not humans," Elizabeta said quietly, barely even audible. "To save the rest of the world from your kind." It was almost like some kind of practiced speech, like she didn't really mean it. "I'm very sorry."

"Doesn't look like it," Gilbert scoffed. He felt himself finally returning to normal and the others in the room apparently took notice. There was another syringe in his arm within a minute.

* * *

Matthew was confused. He'd been watching the news for over an hour and there was nothing on Gilbert or Energy anywhere. It was like he just disappeared. And that put a very bad taste in Matthew's mouth. He'd already said his hellos to everyone, who were all happy to see him okay. Even Francis seemed to have gotten over his hatred of mutants and that made Matthew smile. But it definitely bothered Matthew. Gilbert had been gone for who knew how long and he hadn't popped up anywhere.

"I am sure he is just lying low," Francis offered. "For once, being in the spotlight is not in his best interest."

"I'm just…worried," Matthew muttered, glancing at Alfred, who was leaning against the wall closest to the kitchen, where Ivan was. Alfred knew the story and he knew exactly what Matthew was worried about. What if Gilbert had been taken by the same people that took Matthew? He hated keeping people in the dark about this, but he wasn't even sure what he was supposed to do.

"I'm sure he's fine," Arthur sighed. "He has a habit of getting himself in and out of trouble."

Matthew simply sighed and continued to watch the news. More and more criminals decided to use Energy's absence to do what they wanted and Matthew just wished that Gilbert would show up on at least one occasion. It wasn't exactly like the city was in chaos, but he had still played a part in it.

"I'm going to go for a walk," Matthew decided after a short while.

"Are you sure you want to go outside?" Antonio asked. "The crowd's died down by now, but…you know…"

"I wasn't on the news, no one knew I did anything to the school," Matthew shrugged and stood up to go to the elevator. "I'll be fine on my own, anyway."

"I can go with you if you want, bro," Alfred said, obviously looking uneasy. Matthew gave him a smile and a nod.

"I can protect myself a little better than last time, don't worry," Matthew smiled and entered the elevator. He was sure that it was just a matter of time before they sent someone after him, most likely Ivan, to make sure he stayed safe, so he would have to act quickly. He definitely remembered the building he had willingly walked out of a few days before to go to school and he knew how to get back there. He would just walk by…discreetly…and try to see if he could find out if Gilbert was there. Just in case. The thought made Matthew's stomach twist into knots as the elevator made it to the lobby. He nodded to the people that worked there and offered to open the door for him and Matthew thanked them.

He walked quickly with the hope that maybe the person they would send to follow him wouldn't be able to find him and he could maybe save another secret he knew. People walked around like normal while blood pumped in Matthew's ears, he was so nervous. If Gilbert really was in that building, what would Matthew do? Simply walk in and try to get him out?

Matthew nearly slowed to a stop when he realized just how close he was to the building. Would he even be able to get close to it? Or would he go running? No. He had to go inside if it was to help Gilbert. He couldn't let anything happen to him merely because these people hated mutants. It wasn't right.

Before long, Matthew stood in front of the building and he swallowed thickly. Now was the more difficult part. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He wasn't even sure if he could do something like this, but now would be the perfect time to figure it out. He centered his thoughts on that building and was pleasantly surprised when he figured out he could sense the people inside. He didn't know any of them, and he ignored the fact that he could easily peek into their minds. He turned his attention to the lower levels of the building, where their secrets were held. He searched until he eventually found that woman he remembered who was nice to him. She was going through a lot of mental stress and seemed very…conflicted at the moment.

And then Matthew heard the screams. He had found Gilbert's mind and he was in an incredible amount of pain and unable to move. Matthew immediately opened his eyes and severed the link he'd created and stared at the building ahead of him. He had to help Gilbert, whatever was happening to him. But what could he do? He hardly knew anything about his own abilities and what about those nanobots that were still inside of him? Couldn't they make him do anything?

Matthew clenched his hands into fists as he glared ahead. He had to do something, anything to get Gilbert out of there. Matthew really wished he had Ivan with him there. He'd told him that he was a mutant and, apparently, Alfred was surprised to find out that Ivan could control cold as well as heat. But a mutant that knew their abilities would be useful in that moment. Matthew bit his lip and carefully made his way into the building. It was filled with people in suits that went on with their business as if nothing was going on beneath their feet. He made his way to the elevator slowly and was happy to find that there was no one in it when the doors closed. Looking at the buttons, Matthew found that, oddly enough, there was only one button for the basement and there was a note on it that said "Out of Order".

Matthew decided to take his chances and pressed the button. The elevator began to move down for him and Matthew let out a shaky sigh. He could do this, it was okay. He wouldn't let himself get taken again, he was better this time than he was last time. He was fine. The door opened to an empty hallway that lead to what looked like another elevator, this one with scanners that most likely had the fingerprints or whatever it needed of the people that worked there. Matthew slowly walked up to it, biting his lip. There was no way he could get past this, he was no hacker and he didn't know any tricks. He was stuck.

And then the door opened. Matthew jumped and tried to step back, find some way to hide himself, but he was greeted by a woman that seemed extremely familiar. She had light brown hair that was tangled up into a web of knots, and her bright green eyes were shrouded over with bags. She looked exhausted, but seemed to perk up upon seeing Matthew.

They stood there for a moment, just staring at each other in awe, and then the woman gripped onto Matthew's shirt and pulled him into the elevator. Matthew squeaked and tried to get away and the woman carefully let him go as soon as the doors closed and they started moving down.

"Don't worry," the woman whispered, as if she was terrified of being caught. "I'm not going to hurt you again." Matthew recognized that voice, it was the woman that had been with him while he was there, being turned into a mutant. The only one that treated him with kindness. Matthew stayed on alert, keeping a good distance between the two. "You're here for Gilbert, right?"

"What are you going to do if my answer is yes?" Matthew asked carefully.

"I…" the woman bit her lip and looked away for a second before looking back at Matthew. "I want to stop what I've been doing. I-" The elevator stopped and the door opened and she immediately stopped talking. She gripped onto Matthew's wrist and pulled him into the hallway, filled with people with papers in their arms. She ran fairly quickly, oddly enough not attracting attention, and they entered and empty room, eerily similar to what Matthew could vaguely remember of his time there. "I'm sorry."

"I don't understand," Matthew shook his head. He was in the middle of enemy territory and one of the enemy was apologizing and maybe even offering help. This was a lot more stress than Matthew could handle. But he had to stay strong. For Gilbert.

"I came here because I hate mutants," the woman continued. "Well, more like hated. I only hated the mutants that killed my family and left me alive to suffer, but not all mutants. I've…done so much to so many mutants and I can't do it anymore. But I can't just leave and…I'm very sorry to what I did to you, but you need to trust me. I know where Gilbert is, don't worry, he's still safe and alive. I…I haven't been giving him the correct serums, he's been in no danger of dying. I will help you get him out of here."

"And what will happen to you if you do this?" Matthew asked. There was no way to describe it, maybe it had something to do with his new powers, but he trusted this woman. Wholeheartedly. She was telling the truth and had full intention of helping them.

"I may be killed?" she guessed. "I think that is the least I can do to make up for what I've done here."

"Fine, what did you have in mind?"

* * *

**I give Matthew all of the props for doing this on his own. This chapter was kinda hard for me, because I didn't have a lot planned, I figured that out when I started writing Matthew's part. I was kind of just like, "well shit I'm only at 500 words" and I started going in a place I didn't know I'd be going. Anyway, we're on track no matter what, and I'm going to be honest, I think there's maybe ten more chapters left? Give or take? Maybe a max of 15, that's my guess. Either way, be excited because it keeps heating up from here!**

**Please review!**


	22. Runaway

Matthew couldn't believe he was trusting someone from the company that had kidnapped him and Gilbert, but he swallowed his qualms and followed the woman, Elizabeta. Thanks to these new abilities, he could tell that everything that she had said, she meant whole heartedly, and that was why he chose to trust her. And so they walked discreetly through the hallways. The people around them were too busy to notice them or chose not to look in their direction, but either way it made it easy to go through.

"Gilbert's in recovery now," Elizabeta explained to him quietly. "I'm very sorry about what was done. Thought he was never in danger of being killed, he was still in immense pain."

"He's lived through worse," Matthew sighed. Gilbert managed to get beat up practically every day as Energy and didn't complain at all, even when Matthew knew about it. And he was, apparently, back on his feet within a few days of what Matthew had been forced to do with him. "I do have one question for you…those nanobots that your boss talked about…could they still control me?"

"You don't know?" Elizabeta blinked back at him. "You managed to destroy those a while ago."

"I…I didn't…" Matthew trailed off when they stopped at a door. His heart was hammering in his chest at this point and he forgot about those nanobots. He could only think about Gilbert, if he would really be okay, if this was somehow all a massive trick and he would just die there. Elizabeta seemed to understand his nervousness and quickly opened the door for him. Matthew carefully stepped inside and was relieved to see Gilbert, lying calmly and appearing mostly unharmed on a table in the middle of the room, hooked up to all kinds of monitors. He was heavily restrained and it made Matthew almost proud to think that they had to hold him back that much. "Gilbert." Matthew rushed over to him. Gilbert didn't even move a muscle, evidently forced into a deep sleep. Not really knowing what else to do, Matthew touched Gilbert's hand tentatively.

"_Birdie_." Matthew jumped when he heard Gilbert's voice, nearly letting go of the hand. He stared at Gilbert's face, which hadn't moved, and stared at their hands once again. He heard Gilbert laugh, albeit a little dryly. "_Your powers are fucking cool._"

"Are you awake?" Matthew whispered, unsure if he could trust his thoughts to convey an actual message to him.

"_Sorta? Hard to explain, mostly aware but I can't fucking move. How did you get here?_"

"A new friend," Matthew muttered and glanced back at Elizabeta, who was looking away and appearing as though she was forcing herself to stand still and not say anything.

"_Wait, her?_"

"You know her?" Matthew turned back to Gilbert, whose face remained stoic and unchanged.

"_Only person here that doesn't treat me like a thing. Can we trust her?_"

"I think so," Matthew nodded carefully. "From what I can tell."

"_Alright, then. So what's the plan now? When do I get to move my arms? I haven't been able to give you a proper kiss in over a week by now._"

"Is that really all your focusing on?" Matthew laughed slightly. He carefully let go of Gilbert's hand and looked back at Elizabeta, who seemed to be getting a better control of herself, whatever made her lose control in the first place. "So, what's the next step? You didn't really tell me this part of the plan."

"Right," Elizabeta cleared her throat. "This is going to be the hardest part. The boss didn't give authorization for anything we're about to do, so alarms are going to go off. How ready is he to get moving once he's woken up?"

"I'm not sure, "Matthew shook his head. "How fast did he fully wake up last time? You said you woke him up before."

"If he takes that long, you'll both be stuck here," Elizabeta muttered. "Go ahead and warn him and make sure he can stand as soon as possible. You could use his strength to get out of here."

Matthew nodded and returned to Gilbert's side, holding onto his hand again.

"Get ready," Matthew muttered. "We need to get moving as fast as possible."

"_Hell yeah, I'm ready_," Gilbert said. "_If I could kick the ass of that bastard in charge, that'd be even better._"

"That wouldn't be a very smart idea," Matthew sighed, shaking his head. Gilbert was obviously confused, but Matthew didn't say anything else.

"Here we go," Elizabeta sighed heavily and carefully removed everything that Gilbert was attached to, going for the machinery last. Gilbert's eyes were open in a second, though he still looked groggy and a little out of it. The alarms started to go off, making Matthew jump. Gilbert tightened his grip on Matthew's hand. Immediately after the restraints released, Matthew helped Gilbert sit up.

"Gott," Gilbert muttered under his breath as he wobbled slightly. Elizabeta looked terrified and antsy, staring at the door with fear.

"We have to start moving soon, are you ready?" Matthew asked.

"No," Gilbert shook his head. "But I'll go anyway." Matthew helped Gilbert carefully get on his feet and hooked Gilbert's arm around his shoulders to keep him up. A lot of Gilbert's weight made it onto Matthew, who struggled, but he figured he could manage for at least a little bit.

"Not ideal, but adorable," Elizabeta muttered and quickly went ahead of them and opened the door, where Matthew could already hear people coming for them. Matthew helped Gilbert into the hallway and Elizabeta was already stuck in one place, a crowd of people in front of them.

"Get down," Matthew demanded and Elizabeta obeyed surprisingly quickly. Matthew bit his lip and tried what he had done to Gilbert in the cafeteria. After a few tries, he finally got it right and the people were sent flying down the hall. None of them had guns and Matthew felt kind of bad, they were just the first response to try to hold them back. Elizabeta got up and they started moving again, Gilbert complying a little easier this time.

A few men appeared in front of them as soon as they rounded a corner and one of them immediately had Elizabeta in hand-to-hand combat. Matthew swallowed thickly and pushed the three of them to the side with another mind blast. Elizabeta nodded gratefully and they continued once again. Gilbert slowly pushed himself off of Matthew and moved on his own. Elizabeta noticed and picked up the pace to a run, which Gilbert had a rough time keeping up with.

"So you don't even have a fucking gun on you and you're trying this?" Gilbert smirked slightly.

"It was kind of last minute," Elizabeta countered and Matthew pushed back a few of the people that were following them.

"Gilbert, the elevator," Matthew said. Elizabeta gave him a questioning look before they stopped in front of the elevator. The original plan was to take the stairs, but with the alarm going off, the elevators would be shut down and they could most likely make it up if Gilbert's strength was back.

"I'll try, I guess," Gilbert muttered, gripping onto either door of the elevator and attempting to push them open. It obviously took a lot out of him, but the metal groaned and slowly opened. Matthew turned to face the people that still surrounded them and he had to wonder just how many people worked in this area of the building. He pushed them back, getting disturbingly used to it and good at it. The door opened to the elevator cab sitting with the lights off and Gilbert quickly pulled the two in before easily managing to close the doors, more of his strength returning to him.

"You don't have to take me, I'll find some way out of this," Elizabeta muttered.

"Bullshit," Gilbert smirked and quickly jumped up, knocking off the emergency exit at the top of the cab. "I'm not letting you face that bat shit boss again. Hold on tight." Matthew decided not to question it and wrapped his arms around Gilbert's shoulders. Elizabeta carefully did the same, obviously a little unsure of touching a mutant, but Matthew offered her a sure smile.

Gilbert took a deep breath before jumping up, through the opening. The cab moved down but Gilbert didn't pay that any mind. He had managed to jump up far past the top of the cab and managed to grip onto the wall of the elevator. Matthew tightened his grip, refusing to look down, and noticed that Gilbert smirked, adjusting their weight slightly. He didn't even look tired, carrying the two of them. He kicked off the wall again to jump upwards and went a lot farther this time. One more jump and they were at another elevator door with a ceiling above them.

"This is our stop," Gilbert said, getting a solid grip with his feet before pulling open the doors a lot easier than last time. Matthew immediately stood on the ground and let go once they were on solid ground again and Elizabeta did the same. No one was in front of them, leaving the hallway eerily quiet. The elevator on the other end of the hallway stood open, it's lights on. Gilbert went ahead of them while Matthew approached it carefully. There was a note taped onto the buttons, aside from the out of order one, that Gilbert took, read, and crumpled up to stuff into his pockets. "Whatever."

Matthew gave him a questioning look while Elizabeta looked amazed, walking into the elevator. Gilbert pressed the lobby button carefully, obviously controlling his strength. The elevator moved, much to Matthew's surprise, and opened into an empty lobby. The fire alarm was sounding off and Gilbert laughed slightly, walking ahead and towards the doors. Matthew followed him closely and Elizabeta followed behind them. Out on the street, with the sun long since set behind the buildings, no one was in sight, not even firefighters. Obviously, the alarm was just set inside to get people to evacuate.

"You can come with us, if you want," Matthew offered to Elizabeta, who looked lost as she left the building.

"No," Elizabeta offered a smile, shaking her head. "I can handle myself, but thank you for the offer. You two be careful, alright?" She smiled at them and then ran off, down the street.

"I gotta see who the hell has the guts to kidnap me, of all fucking people," Gilbert grumbled and Matthew bit his lip. He'd already seen the building, knew exactly which family business owned it. Gilbert looked up at the building and his jaw dropped. "Holy shit, are you serious?"

"You can't tell him!" Matthew urged. "You can't know how he'll react to his brother doing something like this. Please, just wait until a better time."

"Like what?" Gilbert scoffed. "He should know now, regardless of if it's a good time or not!"

"It's a big shock," Matthew muttered. "I think we should hold off on telling him until it's really important."

"They've basically declared war on mutants," Gilbert said. "We need to tell him as soon as possible."

"Just not now, please?" Matthew begged.

"Fine, but it's your fault if we move too late to stop them," Gilbert scoffed and then suddenly held onto Matthew's wrist, pulling him forcefully along, before ducking into some alleyway and carefully pushing him into a wall, obviously careful of his strength. "By the way, down there, you were fucking awesome."

"Thanks?" Matthew laughed slightly, only partially wondering why Gilbert had brought him to some alley. He thought that part of the reason had something to do with Gilbert being incredibly obvious to anyone on the street with his looks.

However, Matthew's thoughts stopped cold when Gilbert pressed his lips onto his. Matthew gratefully kissed him back, arms looping around his neck to pull him closer. Gilbert smirked into the kiss, his tongue wasting no time in asking for entrance, which Matthew allowed easily. He could ignore his need for air for the time being, allowing himself to be pressed into the wall by Gilbert, who was almost greedy with how badly he wanted Matthew.

Both of them were able to ignore the small crater in the brick wall behind them.

* * *

"I am very sorry, sir," Roderich said, standing in front of his boss in the man's large office. He was hurt and confused about Elizabeta, who he still could not contact, and now he was terrified. The boss had called for him, specifically, to be in the office as soon as possible. The room was deathly quiet for a moment and the boss stood from his chair, taking careful, precise steps towards Roderich.

"Your own girlfriend betrayed us," the boss said simply and Roderich bit his bottom lip harshly. "How do I know where your loyalties lie?"

"With you, of course," Roderich said resolutely. "The mutants are a plague that must be eradicated."

The room was filled with a suffocating silence while the boss walked around Roderich once before stopping directly in front of him. There was perhaps another minute of silence before the boss spoke up again. "You have one chance. Either you bring me your girlfriend or both of those mutants so I can do what I want with them." Roderich tasted blood from his lip after that comment, but said nothing. He didn't even dare move. "And you're going to watch, so I know you agree with us and you won't betray us. Got it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Now get the hell out of my office," the boss snapped and Roderich nodded, turning to leave. He heard the man mumbling about disappointments and setbacks, but Roderich knew the man well enough to know that he wasn't talking about what had just happened. This had something to do with the man's brother.

* * *

**Well, damn, action scenes are hard, I'm sorry if it sucks! I really am! But things happened, a lot of things actually. Matthew and Gilbert are finally, actually reunited, that actually took an insanely long time, now that I think about it. And Elizabeta's run away from the company, I wonder where she's going or what she's going to do…Just kidding, I know what she's doing and she'll be back!**

**Anyway, please review!**


	23. Grace

"Al's gonna be pissed," Matthew muttered. He'd been gone for a fair amount of time, when he just said he'd be out for a walk. Gilbert shrugged and leaned against the elevator as it moved up to the penthouse. Matthew bit his lip and sighed. He could just tell that Gilbert was trying to keep a strong front, but he could see the small signs. The shaking fists, his eyes daring around constantly, he was shaken up by what happened. He still didn't have shoes on and he shifted his feet just slightly. He had the same thought as Matthew. Those people would be back, it would just be a matter of when and what they would do next time. "We're not gonna tell him what happened, alright?"

"Sure," Gilbert nodded. He gave a smirk and Matthew smiled back, but stared ahead as the door opened. "Even though you were fucking badass."

"Thanks," Matthew rolled his eyes and the door opened to a mostly dark penthouse. Matthew could hear the TV and see the vague glow, but even though he waited for Alfred to come rushing to them, he didn't hear anything. Curiously, Matthew walked in with Gilbert following after him. Once they made it into the living room, Matthew nearly laughed and Gilbert groaned. Alfred and Ivan were both asleep on the couch, Alfred cuddling into Ivan.

"I'm gonna puke," Gilbert scoffed, though he kept his voice down.

"Whatever," Matthew rolled his eyes and turned off the TV, which only made Alfred twitch. Gilbert then pulled him through the dark penthouse and into his own room, which made Matthew jump slightly, but he didn't fight very much. "What, are you excited to cuddle in our sleep, too?"

"What? No, that's lame," Gilbert muttered, flipping on the lights and temporarily blinding Matthew. "And I've had more than enough sleep recently. I was thinking I have a gaming system and we need a little normality, right?"

"You were just kidnapped and experimented on and you want to play video games?" Matthew laughed while Gilbert dragged him to his bed. Gilbert forced him to sit down and quickly moved to his games.

"You were kidnapped and experimented on and you're telling me you'd prefer to sleep?" Gilbert scoffed. "No fucking way in hell, those nightmares have gotta be messed up."

"I don't remember anything from when I was asleep," Matthew shrugged. Gilbert glanced back at him before continuing. "Was it bad or something?"

"It's nothing," Gilbert muttered before standing up while the TV turned on, showing off the latest first person shooter. "This'll also let me get out some of how I'm feeling. I'm pissed off at plenty of people and getting some head shots in will do me some good."

"Alright," Matthew shrugged and leaned absently against Gilbert as he started the game and went online, searching for people to play with him. "Just try not to yell at the TV and wake everyone up." Matthew remembered plenty of times when Alfred had woken him up from playing games and it always pissed him off.

"Sleep's overrated," Gilbert smirked, joining a game.

* * *

The two sat on opposite sides of the table in the diner, staring at their respective drinks. The woman had gotten coffee and the man had gotten tea, though he stared at it as if it wasn't something he wanted. Neither touched their drinks, and neither looked up at the other person they were sitting with. There was hardly anyone in the diner, considering the late, or should they say early, hour. If they did talk, they would have to be careful of what they said.

"I'm not proud of what I did," the man was the first to speak, looking up at the woman, who jumped at the sudden sound and looked up from her now cold coffee.

"I know," The woman said. "Neither am I."

"I am sorry about what happened with your job," the man sighed. "You'll surely be killed, most likely by the cruel boss I heard much about."

"Roderich employed you, right?" The woman asked carefully and the man nodded. "Kiku…" She paused.

"I would prefer you call me Honda," the man muttered. "I do now know you very well. I will only call you Elizabeta due to the fact I do not know your full name."

"Right," Elizabeta nodded. This man had come from Japan, he had an entirely different culture. But she did understand that the fact that the man wanted her to call him Honda, not Kiku, meant that there was a massive doubt of trust. Elizabeta knew that Kiku had allowed Gilbert to call him by his first name the first day. "I'm sorry you were basically forced into capturing Gilbert."

"We both know that is not what this is about," Kiku said. He definitely didn't like meeting with this woman, the idea made his skin crawl. She worked with the company that threatened his life after finding out his secret _accidentally_ through a simple camera check, or whatever they called it. But she had ran away. She was alone, and more or less on his side. "If I had not wanted to do it, I would have allowed myself to be killed instead."

"Then what plan do you have…Honda?" Elizabeta asked curiously. She had to admit, this mutant had been more obedient than any of them were expecting. Roderich never expressed his surprise, but Elizabeta could tell by looking at him.

"It would work a lot better if you were still a part of the company," Kiku sighed. "We will have to rely largely on Gilbert and Matthew and what their next step will be. If they chose to act again or what until the company acts first again."

"They are friends with the brother of the boss," Elizabeta shook her head with a sad smile. That was one fact Roderich and her had learned and chosen to avoid telling the boss. If he had known, then not only would his brother be in danger, but the mutants themselves. "They know the name of the company, Matthew apparently chose not to say anything about it, but now that Gilbert knows, they may choose to take a different course."

"If they involve the brother, that may give us an upper hand," Kiku nodded and picked up his tea, sipping it before sighing and setting it down. American's could never get tea right and it always made him a little sad. "I have one plan, but you will have to trust me."

"How long with this plan take?" Elizabeta asked. She knew the man in front of her didn't trust her at all, so she knew she could only show that she had the same level of trust for him. In reality, she had no choice but to trust him completely. He was the one hiding her and successfully, which amazed Elizabeta the most. "I don't think I'll be able to hide forever."

"We will see how long it will last if I start tomorrow," Kiku said. "I doubt Gilbert will trust me again, but it is worth at least trying. If we get them to cooperate with us, then we can hopefully get rid of the company completely, at least what it does in private."

"That'll depend on the boss's brother," Elizabeta muttered.

* * *

Alfred woke up drowsily and comfortable. He had no idea what he was lying on, but it was comfy as Hell and he didn't want to move. Nothing in that moment could have made him move. But then the world slowly came to him and he could hear voices and what he was lying on moved slightly, making it just slightly less comfortable.

"How did you get in here?" That was Ludwig? He sounded…angry, dangerous.

"I don't come with the intent of harming anyone." That voice…Alfred didn't know.

"How can I trust you if I don't know you?" Ludwig again.

"Fredka," That was Ivan, and he was a lot closer than the others. Alfred blearily blinked awake and glanced around. "You should wake up."

"Do I hafta?" Alfred muttered and then was able to register the fact that he was lying on Ivan's chest. He immediately sat upright, ignoring the heat spreading across his face. Ivan laughed slightly, but soon frowned to look back in the direction of those voices, who were still talking. Alfred glanced over and found that there was a person he didn't recognize standing just in front of the elevator, Ludwig standing in front of him threateningly. "Uh, what's going on?"

"I do not know," Ivan muttered.

"If you would at least allow me to talk to Gilbert-"

"How did you come in here?" Ludwig demanded and Alfred stood up to get a better look. He was still drowsy and stumbled slightly, but stayed upright fairly well.

"I am a mutant, I can move through solid objects," the man explained and Alfred's interest piqued. He finally got a good look at the man and noticed immediately that he was Japanese. Dark hair, dark eyes, small stature. If he wasn't randomly coming in and Ludwig wasn't pissed, he'd love to get to know him. He liked anime well enough, it'd be cool to meet someone that acts like they do in an anime.

"What do you want with Gilbert?" Ludwig asked coldly.

"I need to talk with him about what happened last night and last week regarding himself and Matthew," the man explained simply and politely, despite Ludwig looking and sounding about ready to kill him if he made any sudden moves.

"Gil and Mattie got back?" Alfred wondered out loud and Ivan shrugged from where he sat. The others had gone home at the request of all of their parents, but Ivan's sisters were perfectly willing to allow him to stay for as long as he wanted to. "What happened last night?"

"What the hell is going on?" Gilbert yawned, leaning against the wall leading into the living room, Matthew looking around him innocently. Alfred scowled. He needed to talk with his brother. He'd stayed up for as long as he could looking out for him and he just came in late without an apology? What the hell was this? Gilbert met eyes with the intruder and tensed up, glaring at him and moving protectively in front of Matthew. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Leave now," Ludwig stated and the man took a deep breath before bowing and Gilbert stayed where he was. Alfred tensed slightly and Ivan stood up now, in front of Alfred. Alfred scowled at the fact that Ivan was basically protecting him, but he could yell at him for it later.

"I am sorry for all of the trouble I have caused you," the man apologized. "I promise that I will explain all of my motives later, but you must listen to me now. I have been in contact with Elizabeta and we both seek a plan to rid ourselves of the people after your lives."

"I don't care what you want," Gilbert said coldly and Alfred shivered slightly. "Get the hell out of here."

"Then I apologize for disrupting your peace," the man said before allowing Ludwig to back him into the elevator.

"Gilbert," Matthew muttered, stepping around him. "Why are you so angry at this man?"

"Long story," Gilbert said, glancing in Alfred and Ivan's direction. "But I can't trust him worth shit."

"Do not return," Ludwig warned the man before the elevator closed.

"Okay, I hate being left in the dark here," Alfred groaned as both Ivan and Gilbert relaxed slightly with the man gone. "What the fuck is going on? When the hell did you two get back? Where did Gilbert go?"

"I-It's nothing, don't worry about it," Matthew muttered, looking at the ground. Alfred groaned.

"Don't give me that bullshit," Alfred rolled his eyes and quickly moved up to his brother, who still didn't want to look him in the face. "Where did you go to for hours?"

"I'm sorry I was gone for so long," Matthew offered a smile, but still didn't look directly at him. "I went looking for Gil without telling you, but I found him but it's no big deal, really, Al."

"Oi, West, I want some breakfast," Gilbert chimed, walking over to Ludwig, who didn't spare Gilbert a glare. "What? I disappear for a little while and I get a glare like that? Come on, West!" Gilbert looped an arm around his brother and guided him into the kitchen.

"Don't even think about it, Al," Matthew sighed when Alfred looked back at him.

"I wasn't gonna do that, exactly," Alfred muttered, pouting slightly. "Why won't you talk to me about this? We talk to each other about everything."

"This is…a little more complicated," Matthew shook his head before giving another smile. "It's all okay, don't worry. We'll figure it out. Do you want to help them with breakfast?"

"I gotta piss," Alfred muttered gracefully before walking past Matthew, who sighed and went to the kitchen. Alfred padded his way over to the bathroom and kicked the door open with barely any effort. It definitely irritated him that his brother was hiding something, since it was obvious he was hiding something. But what? What was so important that they had to keep everything secret? After everything that had happened? Obviously, a few big secrets had already come out, but what was so big about this secret?

Alfred turned on the light in the room and closed and locked the door before looking up. He nearly screamed when he saw the man from before, standing in front of him.

"I am sorry if I startled you," the man rushed out, placing shaking hands on Alfred's mouth to muffle him. "Please, do not alert the others of me being here. I need to talk to someone." The man carefully removed his hands. Alfred had no idea why he didn't just run out of there and tell everyone what was going on. If they had secrets, he could keep some, too. Okay, that was a little immature of him… "You may be able to change their minds."

"What do you know about what's going on?" Alfred asked carefully. He didn't know how much he could trust this guy, but he could maybe get a little bit of the story, considering how badly Gilbert reacted to seeing him.

"Far too much, " the man admitted. "Will you listen to me?"

"Sure," Alfred nodded carefully. He wouldn't take anything this man said as fact, just something to go off of. He wasn't stupid, and he knew he could fight back if he wanted, he at least hoped he could. If worse came to worse, there were three mutants just a few feet away from him.

* * *

**Well, then. Kiku's trying pretty freaking hard, and Elizabeta's in hiding, so I hope she's doing well. Anywho, not a lot happened here, but it wasn't completely filler, so that's good. I don't exactly have much to say, so I'll just leave now!**

**Please review!**


	24. Making Bacon

Matthew stood in the kitchen, watching the two brothers cook. It was fairly entertaining how quickly both of them cleaned up after themselves when they moved onto another part, going so far as to hand wash bowls before going to something else. Matthew wasn't about to say anything, naturally, he just thought it was fun to watch. As long as he didn't make a mess, the two wouldn't bother him, apparently.

Matthew glanced over to where Alfred had gone quite a few minutes ago. He was never one to pry, but his new powers made that a little difficult. When he was close to Alfred, he could already tell that Alfred was mad that they didn't trust him. But when Alfred went to the bathroom, there was a moment of intense fear that Matthew could feel from that far away. He didn't say anything because it went away quickly and Alfred was still conscious, but he was still curious as to what was happening. He also refused to read Alfred's mind, despite the fact that he was sure he could. His thoughts were private, no matter how important. After all, Matthew was keeping quite a few huge secrets from him, too.

Finally, Alfred came out and started talking to Ivan about how he could probably leave whenever he wanted, since they were going to leave soon, too.

"What? Are you fucking serious?" Gilbert groaned from where he was cooking bacon. "Just fucking stay here, I don't care, this place is way better than where you live."

"I'm no freeloader," Alfred scoffed from where he stood. "Matt's fine now, so we should just head out soon. I'll eat your breakfast, if that'll make you feel better."

"You're not getting any of this breakfast, jerk off," Gilbert smirked. Ludwig just sighed, shaking his head, and continued with cooking the eggs. Matthew laughed slightly. Admittedly, he didn't want to leave, either, but it would be a good idea to go back to their home. They still had to pay bills and Matthew had to apologize to Feliks and Toris for his long absence from work.

"Aw, come on!" Alfred groaned, running into the room. "You're cooking fucking bacon! You can't just look someone in the eye and tell them they can't have any while they're smelling it!"

"Try me," Gilbert glanced over at him and Alfred's jaw dropped in surprise. Matthew observed his emotions carefully. He was acting normally, but there was something bothering him in the back of his mind. Alfred would probably sit Matthew down and talk to him once they were home alone.

"I will," Alfred said proudly before storming over and taking a piece of the cooked bacon into his hand. Gilbert easily held onto Alfred's wrist to prevent him from moving it close to his face. "No fair, dude! Don't use your super strength on me!"

"Why not?" Gilbert laughed, hardly even trying while Alfred desperately tried to pull away. "It's working, at least."

"What would ya do if I didn't know you were a mutant?" Alfred tried using two hands now, but Gilbert still wasn't budging. "Then you wouldn't be able to use your super strength on me."

"If you didn't know, then why the hell would you be in here eating my breakfast?" Gilbert countered.

"Whatever, I don't fucking care," Alfred sighed, dropping the food and Gilbert laughed. Matthew knew he would let Alfred eat it, he was just messing around. It made Matthew smile, how easily Gilbert could return to normality after everything that had happened. They still had to remain on the lookout, but for now it seemed that Gilbert was more than willing to act like everything was normal. Gilbert released Alfred, who grumbled and left the room. He started complaining to Ivan, rather loudly, too.

"Like the Ice Queen's gonna help you with anything," Gilbert scoffed and Matthew snickered. And that was how Gilbert's feet got frozen to the floor that morning.

* * *

Matthew rushed out of their little apartment, Alfred groaning in complaint. He had to go to that little supermarket as soon as possible to apologize and get back to working. Gilbert had said he was more than willing to help them pay for their apartment if they needed it, but Matthew didn't want to have to rely on his boyfriend to pay for things. Matthew quickly rushed through the bustling crowds, all going on as if life was normal despite the fact Matthew knew for sure it wasn't. One of the most major companies in the world was secretly killing mutants without their knowledge…

Matthew shook it off as soon as he saw the store. He quickly rushed inside and saw that it was mostly empty as usual. The bell went off and Feliks popped his head around a shelf, his eyes widening.

"Like, holy shit, he's back!" Feliks cheered before running forward to hug Matthew.

"I'm so sorry I was gone for so long," Matthew muttered.

"I heard your school, like blew up or something a few days ago," Feliks said, looking him over as if making sure he was alright. "Oh, my God! We gotta tell Toris! We thought you, like, died or something!"

"Thanks for your concern," Matthew smiled slightly before Feliks rushed him towards the front counter before releasing him and going into the back room. In a matter of seconds, Feliks reappeared, pulling Toris with him, who honestly looked rather surprised.

"Why would you pull me out of there like that?" Toris gave an exasperated sigh, straightening himself out, before turning his attention to Matthew. His eyes widened.

"You should give me more credit, broski," Feliks smirked.

"Where have you been for so long?" Toris asked.

"A…family emergency came up and I couldn't call you guys," Matthew sighed. He hated lying, but it wasn't like he could tell them everything that happened. "And then the thing with the school happened and a friend of mine got badly injured, so I had to look after him. I'm so sorry for missing so much work, but I am fully willing to help you out any way I can now. School won't be back in session for a while considering what happened, so I can work whenever you need me to."

"Don't worry, I forgive you," Toris smiled, patting Matthew's shoulder. "Do you think you could come in tomorrow? We're still short-handed, but I think we can last the day on our own."

"Sure," Matthew gave a relieved sigh to know that Toris forgave him for basically disappearing for nearly two weeks without notice. "I can do that, definitely, what time should I come by?"

"Well, we open at 7," Toris thought out loud.

"Which is totally killer," Feliks whined. "We should, like, open at noon."

"Do you think you could be here at around 6:30?" Toris continued. "We can teach you how to help us open and you'll be a great help."

"Perfect," Matthew nodded. "Thank you, for forgiving me."

"It's no problem," Toris smiled. "Anyway, you look tired, you should go home and rest a little bit. Don't stress yourself out too much."

"I can try," Matthew smiled and left the store with the other two employees waving at him. Matthew sighed as he stepped out. The world was turning back to normal, almost. He could feel the emotions of the people passing him by, who was stressed, who was happy, who was depressed. And he felt like he always had to look over his back to see if someone was there to try to take him away. He didn't even know if he could fight back, but he had to try.

* * *

Roderich sighed deeply, leaning carefully against the incredibly dirty wall, just beside a door. A door he knew held someone he cared about. How did he know this? Some secret spying on his own. Kiku may have thought that all of the cameras observing him were gone, but there were still a few. Roderich overheard the plan he had to hide Elizabeta and where. And that was exactly where he was, in the middle of the night. He had no idea what he would do when he saw her. He had half a mind to scold her for all of her actions and turn her over to the boss, but the other half…wanted to comfort her. She was lost and alone with a massive corporation ready to look for her with the intent to kill.

Part of it was his fault. He knew that Elizabeta's mind was split with how she should treat the mutants. He should have protected her from having to be directly involved with it. But he had simply sat back and hoped that she would change her mind, come to her senses. Roderich still couldn't understand why she even treated the mutants with any kind of respect, but she was still the woman he loved.

Finally, the door beside him opened and someone stepped out with a hoodie on, the hood covering most of her face, but he could still tell it was her.

"It's a shame to hide your hair like that," Roderich said simply and the woman jumped, immediately looking over at him. The hood slipped just slightly, revealing her bright green eyes, wide with terror. "I'm not…" Roderich trailed off. He didn't know what he was and wasn't going to do.

Elizabeta bit her lip before pulling Roderich into the incredibly small and horribly put together room. Roderich shuddered at the fact that Elizabeta had been sleeping on the moldy mattress on the floor.

"What are you doing here? How did you find me?" Elizabeta demanded, pulling down her hood. Her hair was a ratted mess and there were obvious bags under her eyes. So she wasn't sleeping on the mattress…

"I care about what happens to you," Roderich said carefully. "No matter what you have done, I don't want you hurt."

"How did you find me?" Elizabeta asked again. She was shaking, though maybe partially out of the cold, due to this room not having any form of heat.

"I am still observing Kiku," Roderich said simply.

"Why? To kill him when he stops being important to you?" Elizabeta snapped and Roderich sighed. She was in a delicate state, he had to remember that. She was going to think far more irrationally than she usually did. She was without sleep in a place she didn't know with people coming after her with the intent to kill her.

"If you return now, you will be killed," Roderich said delicately.

"I know that," Elizabeta scoffed. "I knew that when I left."

"I don't want that to happen," Roderich said.

"Why not?" Elizabeta demanded.

"I care about you," Roderich tried, but Elizabeta didn't appear to be willing to listen.

"No, you don't," Elizabeta scoffed. "He probably sent you to look for me to test your loyalty, like he always does. I failed his test so he wants me killed. If you fail his test, you'll be in the same boat as me! And both of us know you're not going to do that!"

"Elizabeta," Roderich said, placing his hands on either of Elizabeta's shoulders. "You have been very stupid in your actions. You aided a mutant in his escape with the help of another. You have befriended another mutant in an attempt to hide from your crimes and you have made no move to make up for anything that you have done. However, you have kept with your personal values and that is something you must be proud of. You entered this company out of anger and, though that was not a wise decision, we were able to meet and that has been an incredible blessing. I know you don't hate the mutants, despite having full right to. I hate the mutants without the same right as you and I hope you don't think of me as shallow. It is due to the fact that you have stayed true to yourself that I still love you and I find myself unable to do anything but ensure you are safe."

Elizabeta stared at him with wide eyes, opening and closing her mouth without making a sound. And then she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close, pressing her head into his chest. She trembled, but refused to cry, and Roderich carefully hugged her back.

"We will find some way to keep you safe," Roderich promised. "I don't know how, but we will."

"We already have a plan," Elizabeta muttered, holding onto him a little tighter. Roderich could only assume that meant she was working with Kiku on this. "It may involve you losing your job, I'm sorry."

"I forgive you," Roderich said easily.

* * *

**Roderich is an adorable, little idiot. Jeez, I didn't expect that scene to go as well as it did, but I love it! And Matthew's getting his life back together slowly, but we'll see how long it will last! There's still a lot left to happen, but I'm guessing these plans will start moving next chapter…**

**Anyway, please review! You'll make my life if you do!**


	25. The Race

"Are you sure it is alright for you to be alone?" Ludwig asked carefully and Gilbert rolled his eyes. "After everything that has happened?"

"Quit pretending you're the older bruder," Gilbert scoffed. "Just go check out the school and I'll be fine up here. I won't answer the door to strangers and I won't use the stove." Gilbert nearly regretted telling Ludwig about what had happened with him getting kidnapped, but he needed some way to explain the whole Kiku showing up thing and why he'd gotten so pissed about it. He left out some of the life-threatening parts, but that wasn't really important. Ludwig still didn't look quite sold, though. He was going to the school to see how the rebuilding was going and get a better idea of when they'd be back in school after an event like that. "Look, I can take care of myself, alright? I've been at this whole fighting thing for a while. I won't let my guard down again."

"Just…be careful," Ludwig sighed and begrudgingly allowed Gilbert to finally push him into the elevator.

"That's what I always do," Gilbert smirked and the door closed, allowing him to let out a sigh of relief. Ludwig had this habit of hovering when he was nervous and, as sweet as it was, Gilbert didn't need someone to hover over him. Besides, he was the older brother, which meant he should hover over Ludwig. So not awesome.

Gilbert slowly moved back to the living room and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the all-too familiar man standing in front of the TV. Gilbert immediately tensed for a fight, but Kiku just sighed and put his hands up in surrender.

"Please, I need you to listen to me," Kiku begged and Gilbert glared at him. "I will not harm you, you have my word."

"How much is that even worth?" Gilbert asked and Kiku winced.

"I promise," Kiku bowed his head. "I will not use any of my abilities."

"What the hell do you even want?" Gilbert snapped. "Why do you keep showing up? It makes no fucking sense! You already betrayed my trust!"

"I had full reason to," Kiku attempted to defend himself.

"Then what the fuck is this reason?" Gilbert yelled. He ran a hand through his hair to calm himself down. It wouldn't do anyone any good if he punched something and they had to replace it. "It's like you don't even remember how bad you fucked up. They tried to kill me, several times! Matthew had to revisit the place that basically ruined his life to try to save me. All because you decided you'd side with the people that want to kill mutants. What kind of a mutant are you if you would do any of that, let alone all of it?"

"I am not siding with them," Kiku snapped, but regained his composure far faster than Gilbert. "I am helping, albeit in a strange way. They would have killed me if I hadn't helped them take you and I apologize, but I knew you would make it out alive. I even helped you by turning on the second elevator for you."

"How can I even know if I can trust anything you say?" Gilbert scoffed, shaking his head.

"Then ask Matthew," Kiku said. "He read Elizabeta's mind and he can read mine. He can tell if I am telling the truth."

"And if you're not and it's just a ploy to kidnap both of us?" Gilbert scoffed. This man had his last chance, he wasn't about to just trust him out of nowhere again.

"Matthew and his abilities are much stronger than me," Kiku admitted. "Much stronger than a lot of mutants, in fact. Not even the company that took you knows the limit of these new skills he has. They are terrified of him."

"What do you even want me for?" Gilbert asked, though he was a little creeped out by the fact that even Kiku knew how powerful Matthew was getting. Just by being around the boy, Gilbert could tell that he was powerful, scarily even, but Gilbert had no idea on what level.

"You know the brother of the man in charge of the company, yes? That is what Elizabeta told me, you saw the building and the name that came with it?"

"And you haven't?" Gilbert asked.

"I am a mutant, would they really share their biggest secret with me?" Kiku sighed. "If you know the boy, you also know that he is nearing the age to take over the company, even without the proper level of schooling. As far as Elizabeta knows, he doesn't hate mutants. If he takes over for his brother-"

"Hold on," Gilbert cut him off. "I can't even trust you or this plan you're creating in your head, and you still honestly expect me to waltz up to my friend and tell him everything? Bullshit. You don't even know him or even if he's capable of taking over this company. He still needs to finish school to learn all of that shit, right? We can't just stage a fucking coup and hope the company turns out alright. This is one of the top companies in the fucking world and you expect me to be perfectly fine with leaving it to a teenager?"

"I know it seems foolish-"

"Foolish doesn't even cut it," Gilbert said coldly.

"But would you prefer someone that despises mutants to stay in charge with as much power as he has?" Kiku continued. "Would you prefer he continues ruining lives like he is now?"

"What's stopping me from just calling the fucking cops on him?" Gilbert snapped.

"He is a wealthy man, he will easily cover anything up that he needs to. And he can easily pay any bail posted," Kiku shook his head.

"Even if he's charged with murder of who knows how many people?" Gilbert snapped.

"Mutants are a gray area in the legal system," Kiku admitted. "We are not considered human, considering our genes, and laws have to be re-written. It would be easy to compare us to African American slaves in American history."

"So you've got yourself in a corner," Gilbert rolled his eyes. "You're plan is to take a kid, barely capable of doing what you're asking, stage a coup with mutants and kick out a guy with apparently infinite power? Are you fucking nuts?"

"Evidently," Kiku muttered.

"Get the hell out of here," Gilbert said. "You're not welcome, you're never welcome. It would have been easier coming here to ask for forgiveness."

"I'm afraid we are too low on time to ask for forgiveness," Kiku sighed. "If you want me to leave, I will. Just know that I have also gone to another source of help, one that evidently is harder for you to control."

And then Kiku simply fell through the floor. Gilbert growled and kicked at the nearest thing, which happened to be their couch. There was a loud snap and it was soon in two pieces but Gilbert didn't care. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. He should call Matthew.

"We have to tell him," Gilbert muttered.

* * *

"I'm just not sure what I should do, you know?" Alfred groaned, leaning heavily on a park bench. He'd managed to convince Ivan to go on a walk with him through a park. Ivan was a little hesitant, still unsure about how close they had gotten recently. Alfred was confused about it, too, but he couldn't honestly say he preferred it when he had hate make out sessions with the mutant. He'd managed to get out all of the pent up emotions he had and the secrets he'd learned recently. There was just one part of the puzzle he was missing and that was pissing him off.

"Judging by your explanation, you want to help this man, Kiku," Ivan noted. Alfred groaned. That wasn't the answer he wanted to hear.

"I don't even know who this brother of the dude in charge even is!" Alfred groaned, gripping hard onto his hair. "Sure, it's cool if I even decide to go with the crazy mutant that stalked me into the bathroom, but then I don't even know who I'm going after! What the hell even is that about? He tries to tell me this big secret and this plan, but he doesn't even know the target?"

"The informant you said he talked about seemed to know," Ivan muttered and Alfred glared up at him.

"You're not helpful," Alfred muttered.

"If you go around wasting your time deciding if something is the right decision, the opportunity will leave," Ivan sighed. "You have the highest moral standard of anyone I know, any decision you make is the right one. So deciding whether or not to side with him is not the problem, it is the part you don't know."

"Thanks for psycho analyzing me," Alfred sighed. He needed help, not a therapy session.

"Do you agree with what he wants to do?" Ivan asked.

"Yeah," Alfred huffed. "I mean, this company went after my little bro and turned him mutant! I want them to go down! But can I really help anything? I'm just a human."

"That does come with its perks," Ivan smirked. "You are a normal human. This man, whoever he is, cannot do anything to you."

"Yeah, okay, so I raise hell," Alfred rolled his eyes. "But to who? That's my problem."

"Maybe this Kiku will tell you," Ivan shrugged. "He just wanted to see how you would react to his plan. If you think it is a good one."

"I don't fucking know," Alfred muttered. Everything had gotten so complicated so fast and the only ones he had to talk to were his brother and Ivan. Matthew was out because he was still recovering, Alfred demanded that he stayed home, and Alfred didn't want to drag him back to the company, after everything that happened to him. Ivan was still unaffected by the company, able to hide as much as he wanted, and Alfred could trust him with pretty much anything. "Why is this so hard to figure out?"

"Life shouldn't be coming easy to you," Ivan smiled slightly. "It has never come easy to me, da?"

"Yeah, well that's stupid," Alfred crossed his arms over his chest. "Life should go easy on people sometimes, to make up for being a bitch."

"I think there have been some bright sides to it so far," Ivan smiled and Alfred rolled his eyes.

"Cheesy much?" Alfred muttered and Ivan chuckled.

"Come," Ivan said, looking to the right. "There is an ice cream stand, you like ice cream, da?"

"Yeah," Alfred sighed and slowly stood up. Ice cream did sound pretty good.

"I will make sure it doesn't melt," Ivan offered another smile and Alfred noticed how unnatural it looked before he laughed slightly, punching Ivan in the arm.

"Don't be so nice, it's fucking creepy," Alfred smirked. "Fucking commie."

"Capitalist pig," Ivan gave a different smile, a more genuine one and Alfred took the lead ahead of him, only for Ivan to increase his speed to go ahead. And then the walk to the ice cream stand became a race that nearly took out the vendor.

* * *

"Do you really think we should?" Matthew asked into his phone, leaning against his headboard. "That's a lot to swallow and considering everything that's happened…"

"_We shouldn't baby him_," Gilbert scoffed on the other end of the phone. "_He's a big boy that can handle himself. We need to tell him, it's not like it'll be secret for very long at the rate this is going._"

"Do you think you'll go along with the plan Kiku told you about?" Matthew asked curiously. Gilbert had called him a few minutes after he'd talked with Kiku, raving on and on about how stupid the man was for going into his house. But Matthew saw something in this plan that he could piece together from Gilbert. Kiku sounded…desperate to do something. Change something. Despite how poor the plan was, it was the best thing they had to stop what was happening. Who knew how many other operations that man had going with his company?

"_I don't fucking know_," Gilbert muttered. "_I mean…it's stupid, right? That's not just me?_"

"Do you see a better option? Considering who it is?" Matthew asked and Gilbert sighed heavily. "When do you think we should tell him?"

"_Let's just rip the band-aide off_," Gilbert said. "_Tomorrow. What the hell, it's not like we have school, right?_"

"Sure, I don't work tomorrow," Matthew sighed, glancing at his calendar. He'd noticed a while ago that he no longer needed his glasses to see thanks to his new abilities, but he kept them on his face anyway, at least for a sense of normalcy. "Should I text him or something?"

"_Nah, I'll call him, he'll listen to me a little more when I tell him it's important_," Gilbert sighed. "_Think you can sneak away from your brother and get out of the house for once_?"

"What about you?" Matthew laughed slightly. "Ludwig's pretty uptight, too."

"_I've got my little bro covered_," Gilbert said proudly. "_You get yours. I'll text you when and where once I get him on board._"

"Alright," Matthew nodded and Gilbert hung up, moving on quickly to the next conversation. So they would tell him tomorrow. Matthew sighed heavily, he wanted to keep this from him for as long as possible. But there wasn't much they could do about it. They didn't necessarily have to follow Kiku's plan, but at least knowing they had something could put them in a better position.

Matthew still hardly slept, woken up by the smallest noises. He couldn't go around a corner without looking behind himself. He was scared, and the only way to stop that would be to end this. All of it.

* * *

**Much intense. Such wow. I wrote about half of this while I was at work today and that was kinda fun. Anyway, things happened and something big is gonna happen next chapter. We finally get to figure out who the boss is! You should all be excited!**

**Anyway, please review! It keeps me going, really!**


	26. Minutes

Matthew stood in front of some coffee shop, looking around the street anxiously. He tensed anytime a car slowed down in front of him. The only reason Alfred had allowed him out of the house was because he swore Gilbert would be at the coffee shop when he got there. But Gilbert was running late, bringing their guest with him. Matthew was also scared for when they would show up, he didn't want to have to be the one to share this secret.

"Oi, Birdie!" Gilbert shouted over the small crowd and ran ahead of the person he was with to stand beside Matthew. "You been waiting long?"

"Not really," Matthew shrugged. It had been maybe six minutes, but it definitely felt like more.

"Now, what the hell do you two even want with me?" the third person scoffed and Matthew glanced around Gilbert to see Arthur walking up with his usual scowl. "If you two even think I'm going to be a third wheel on whatever date you're planning, I can just go home now."

"No, it's not that, I promise," Matthew swore.

"Jeez, after I go through all the hard work of finding a place you'd like, too," Gilbert sighed dramatically. "Do you know how long I researched coffee places with fucking English tea? And good ones? Like, fifteen minutes. That was fucking hell."

"Well, lucky you, you actually picked a good one," Arthur rolled his eyes and walked in ahead of them. Matthew sighed heavily and Gilbert motioned for him to go in first, holding the door open. It smelled just like any other coffee shop and Gilbert and Matthew waited while Arthur ordered his own drink.

"You shouldn't have invited me to a bloody coffee shop if you weren't going to get anything yourselves," Arthur sighed while the person at the counter set up Arthur's tea before handing it back to him.

"I'm just not very thirsty," Matthew muttered.

"So what is this about?" Arthur asked. "Normally, people don't even ask me out, aside from the frog."

"Wait, Franny asks you out?" Gilbert's jaw dropped. "What the fuck? He never told me about that!"

"Keep your voice down if you're going to curse, this is a public place," Arthur sighed and Matthew saw the slight blush dusting his cheeks as he quickly went to sit down.

"Well, I know who I'm talking to next," Gilbert muttered and the two followed him. Matthew swallowed thickly, honestly really nervous. Gilbert, on the other hand, seemed to have relaxed slightly thanks to the idle chatter. They sat down at a table, Matthew beside Gilbert and Arthur on the other side.

"Well, what is so important you need to talk to me about?" Arthur sighed, idly messing with the tea bag in his cup. He looked at the two interestedly and Matthew bit his lip, looking away slightly.

"Uh, let's say it's about your bruder," Gilbert muttered.

"Which one?" Arthur snorted. "They're all twats."

"The one in charge of the Kirkland Corporation," Gilbert sighed and Arthur gave them a questioning look.

"What is this about?" Arthur asked carefully, forgetting his tea for the moment.

"The people that took me," Matthew said carefully, pausing for a moment. "When I left, I was able to see the name on the building as I left. It was the main operations building for the Kirkland Corporation. In the basement levels, they have a lot of rooms where they could do a lot to mutants."

Arthur was quiet for a moment, looking between the two carefully before staring down at his tea. He cursed.

"Yeah, I know it's a lot to take in, but it gets harder," Gilbert sighed before snickering under his breath a comment that made Matthew want to hit him. "If that's your brother in charge of it, we need to stop him. He tried to kill me and I'm sure he's more than willing to try again, with Matthew, too."

"How do you even know he has a part in it?" Arthur muttered.

"I caught a glimpse of him once," Gilbert muttered. "Red hair, green eyes, he's got your fucking eyebrows, I wish I actually noticed that when I saw him, but I was a little…preoccupied."

"You were taken, too?" Arthur asked.

"Yeah, long story, I'm pretty much recovered now," Gilbert shrugged. "But that's not important. Which of your brothers is in charge?"

"Allistor," Arthur sighed heavily. "However, any of my other brothers would take over after him before me as they are all older. I knew they hated mutants, but I never thought he would go that far…"

"I know this mutant that's been…forced to work with them," Gilbert continued. "He's come up with a sort of plan but you having other brothers does make it a problem."

A phone ringing cut off the conversation and Matthew glanced at Gilbert, who just shrugged and looked at Arthur, who let out a heavy sigh before pulling out a phone and standing from the table.

"Sorry," Arthur muttered before answering the phone and walking away. Gilbert stared after him and Matthew stared at his forgotten tea.

"Well, this is going perfect," Gilbert sighed, stretching his arms over his head. "What do we do now?"

"There's not really much of a plan we can make at this point," Matthew muttered.

"Do you think you could eavesdrop on his conversation and see if he's talking to Franny," Gilbert muttered, looking over at him again.

"I'm not going to use my powers to eavesdrop," Matthew said resolutely.

"Fine, fine, whatever," Gilbert sighed. "But if you don't use your powers, they're gonna go to waste."

"I'd prefer to know more about them before I go around using them for no good reason," Matthew sighed. "I don't like reading people's minds at all."

"Is it involuntary or do you have control when you do it?" Gilbert asked curiously. Of course he was curious, these were powers Gilbert had no idea about. Meanwhile, Matthew was terrified of the fact that he kept discovering new ones.

"Sometimes," Matthew muttered.

"There's nothing to be scared about, Birdie," Gilbert sighed, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "You're powers are fucking cool, considering the lottery of getting powers, you're lucky if you get ones that make sense. Don't look at them like they're something to be afraid of. Think of them as…another part of you, something awesome. It's nothing you have to hide."

"Says the boy that's been hiding in his penthouse for the past few days," Matthew smirked slightly and Gilbert pouted. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when both of them saw Arthur suddenly run out of the store at nearly full speed.

"What the fuck?" Gilbert stood up but Matthew stayed seated.

"Wait, don't follow him," Matthew muttered, staring after him. He felt the wave of Arthur's emotions as he left. He wasn't leaving because he was overwhelmed or just wanted to get away, he felt like there was something he could do about what was going on. "I think he's got a plan in mind himself."

"You better be right about that," Gilbert said.

* * *

Arthur panted slightly as he stood in front of the familiar building, trying to compose himself before he went in. He was curious when his brother had called him, but the purpose of the call was even more curious. He almost felt bad for leaving Matthew and Gilbert alone, but he was sure they'd get over it in due time.

As soon as he was back in his tip top shape, he stepped into the building with his own last name on the front of it. The employees inside recognized him well enough and didn't stop him on his way to the elevator. He chose to ignore the "Out of Order" sign on the basement button and simply hit the topmost button, the floor where only his brother would be. Allistor said he wanted to talk to Arthur about the company, apparently it was something important, and Arthur had learned to never leave his brother waiting.

He shuffled his feet, alone in the elevator, until it reached the top floor and he swallowed thickly. No matter what, he had to remember what Matthew and Gilbert had said. Even if it was an exaggeration, there was something to be said about any experiments on mutants.

Arthur took a deep breath as he walked through the hallway, only greeted by a small receptionist who simply smiled at him and told him to go on in. Arthur couldn't help but wonder if his brother was actually nice to her, though the chances of that were incredibly small. He didn't bother knocking, instead simply opening the door.

The office he walked into was incredibly large, but Arthur knew that from when his father owned this company. There was a large desk on the opposite end of the room, against a wall of windows that showed a rather beautiful picture of the city. The desk was covered in papers, some of them spilling onto the floor, but the man at the desk didn't seem to mind that. He stood up professionally, almost like it was practiced, and greeted Arthur with an odd sight, a smile. Arthur stayed close to the door as he closed it behind him.

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes," Allistor smiled from where he stood and Arthur stayed still. His accent was still thick as ever from his time in Scotland, but Arthur wasn't going to bring that up again. Allistor was acting nice, this wasn't like him. He wanted something from Arthur. "Aw, don't be like that, I haven't actually seen your face in a while."

"You've been too busy here," Arthur noted simply and Allistor chuckled slightly.

"C'mere," Allistor motioned for Arthur, who slowly moved across the carpet to stand a fair distance from his brother, on the opposite end of the desk. "Jesus Christ, I mess up a few times and you don't even wanna be near me?"

Arthur fought back a scoff. What Allistor considered as "messing up" involved publicly humiliating Arthur several times and occasionally beating the shit out of him when he felt like Arthur was a failure. Believe it or not, that happened quite a lot during Arthur's rebellious phase. At least through that, Arthur learned how to fight back, not like he caused much of a dent. But Arthur knew better than to say anything negative about Allistor being positive. What was the saying? Don't look a gift horse in the mouth? In any case, Arthur was going to be wary, but not point anything out.

"Whatever, I called you here for a reason, so I'm gonna talk to you about something important, alright?" Allistor sighed and moved towards the window, his back to Arthur. Arthur carefully walked around the desk and noticed an odd piece of paper lying on top of it. It was crumpled, but looked like it had been freshly un-crumpled. Arthur glanced at the words and was genuinely surprised to find that it was a letter from his own father to Allistor. "What's your opinion on those mutants?" Arthur immediately looked up at his brother who asked the question, but the man didn't look back at him.

Arthur bit his lip and decided to chance lying to him. Maybe that could get him somewhere with this whole situation. "I don't see any good they've done." He glanced back at the paper and raised an eyebrow at the contents of the letter, thoroughly surprised. He looked back up at his brother to make sure he didn't see him reading this.

"What about the one that fucked up your school?" Allistor asked and Arthur looked at the paper, memorizing the important parts while he could.

"Energy?" Arthur asked absently and Allistor finally looked back. He looked pissed, but for once not at Arthur. Apparently just the mere mention of the name put Allistor in a foul mood. "What of him?"

"_It_," Allistor emphasized, "is unnatural and shouldn't be allowed to hide among the humans anymore. It's a good thing it's secret identity has been revealed. How do you feel about sharing a school with it?"

Arthur chose his words carefully. Allistor had never talked to him before about mutants, at least not very in depth and Arthur knew this had something to do with that paper. He had to play his cards right. "Honestly, I don't think he…it should be allowed back on school grounds."

Allistor smirked slightly before he placed a hand on Arthur's shoulder.

"I've got something to show you," he began to lead Arthur out of the room and Arthur's heartbeat sky-rocketed, but he didn't allow it to show. He had to stay calm in order to figure this out. They walked out of the room and past the receptionist, towards the elevator. "The reason I called ya when I did was because one of the people I have watching you saw that you were with the freak, and another one."

"You have people watching me?" Arthur asked as they waited for the elevator. Allistor tapped his foot impatiently.

"Only because I care about you, kid," Allistor ruffled Arthur's hair. "You're too nice to tell it you don't wanna be anywhere near it, which I understand, so I gave you an out. I needed to talk to you anyway."

The door opened and Arthur swallowed, following his brother inside of it. If Allistor was asking him these questions and actually seemed nice for once, that meant that the people following Arthur couldn't have heard the conversation, or at least didn't tell Allistor anything about the conversation. Arthur would have to be more observant from then on, apparently.

Allistor easily pressed the button to the basement, ignoring the note on top of it, and the elevator moved down easily. Arthur honestly had no idea what to expect, but he still found himself trembling.

* * *

Arthur took a deep breath to try to compose himself, but it still came out shaky as he attempted to swallow yet again. He hit his head lightly against the door of a house that didn't even belong to him. He'd been outside of that house for who knew how long, trying to collect his thoughts after what he had seen. There was no way he could just go home after something like that, and so he went somewhere else. He'd managed to convince his brother that he didn't need to be followed and hoped he would keep his word about it as he sat there, unable to close his eyes at the risk of remembering what he saw earlier that day. It had turned dark a long time ago, so Arthur stared at the street lamps as he let out shaky breath after shaky breath.

And then the door behind him opened. Arthur stayed upright easily enough, but refused to look up.

"Of all people for a maid to see outside of our house…" a familiar voice muttered and the door closed. Arthur ran a shaking hand through his hair as the person sat beside him with a heavy sigh. "Merde, you look terrible."

"I know that, you insufferable…" Arthur couldn't even finish his insult. He made the mistake of closing his eyes and an image of a mutant, a person, lying dead on a cold metal table made its way into his mind. "Dammit all."

"Do not take offense to this," Francis muttered, "but why come here when you are in such a state?"

"I don't know," Arthur shook his head, his hands trembling beyond control. "I…I just…"

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Francis sighed and Arthur bit his lip, staying silent. His own brother, a blood relative to him, just stared at these…these "experiments" with pride, talking about death calmly and like it didn't matter. He talked about Gilbert and Matthew with disdain rivalled by no one. The thought of Arthur's own friends winding up on those tables was enough to make him sick to his stomach.

"I can't…" Arthur couldn't even form proper words. It took all of his strength to agree with his brother, laugh at his horrible jokes, and say comments of his own. It was all sapped from him the moment he arrived at that stupid doorstep. He shivered and Francis sighed, carefully placing an arm around Arthur's shoulders. Arthur didn't even make a move against it. "Why all at once?" This all had to come to him in the same day and he had to know all of this after all of the scattered events of his friends… Still, he refused to cry, especially not in front of Francis.

"Would you like to stay here for the night?" Francis offered. "It's not like you haven't before." That was true. Arthur often ran from home and, since Francis was the one he knew best, he was the one he stayed with most of the time. Usually, though, those nights were filled with arguing and shouting and Arthur was basically pushed out the door the next morning.

"I don't think I can move anymore," Arthur muttered.

Francis sighed. "That look is not good on you, mon ami. What happened to that fire in your eyes?"

"My brother," Arthur answered easily enough and Francis was quiet for a moment.

"I will be back," Francis promised and quickly disappeared from Arthur's side and into the house. Everything felt colder and Arthur felt so much more alone than he did before, his breath coming quicker. He really had to fight to keep those tears back now. The door opened again. "You are lucky we had a late dinner and they're not done cleaning it up."

"I don't want your disgusting frog food," Arthur muttered and Francis chuckled, sitting back down and passing Arthur a bowl of some kind of soup with a spoon in it.

"Don't let your pride keep you from having something healthy every once in a while," Francis said while Arthur stared at it.

"You don't hate mutants anymore, do you?" Arthur asked numbly and Francis raised an eyebrow at the question.

"Non," Francis answered easily. "Gilbert helped me realize that."

"Good," Arthur nodded. If anything, what his brother showed him that day made him hate humanity more than mutant kind.

* * *

**So a FrUK-ish moment did manage to worm it's way in there. Interesting. Anyway, the reveal has finally happened. I know I've had at least one person guess it, but not a lot of people other than that. If I wrote accents, it would have made it a lot easier, I know. Anyway, Arthur's other brothers probably won't make it into the story, probably just Allistor will stay. In any case, it appears that Arthur has his own plan that he's forming in his head, if he can get over this initial shock. What will happen next? Guess you'll just have to wait to find out!**

**Please review!**


	27. In His Eyes

"Are you really, really sure?"

"Alfred," Matthew gave his brother a deadpan look as he stood in front of the door. Alfred was still tentative about letting him out of the house. He was apparently more scared than Matthew was about the whole thing. "I'm just going to see the school with Gil, it's no big deal. And Gilbert and I can take care of ourselves just fine, in case you've forgotten."

"Yeah, I'm, like, the only one left out of the Cool Powers Club," Alfred grumbled under his breath. "If you need help…just call me, please?"

"Alfred, don't worry, I'll be fine," Matthew laughed slightly before finally opening the door. "Trust me." Alfred muttered something else under his breath but Matthew didn't listen as he headed out the door. Honestly, he wasn't sure if he really wanted to see the school and the destruction he caused, but he could handle it. Gilbert wanted to see it, anyway, so it would be fine. Matthew walked quickly through the streets, not liking being alone very much. Sure, he could handle it, but all of the cars still put him on edge, especially the ones that would stop right in front of him. That always made him move faster, but there was no danger. Matthew couldn't help but wonder why, though. It had been quite a while since both of their escapes. Why was nothing happening? It was like an eerie silence.

Finally, Matthew could see the school and the cranes around it while construction workers were at work. Gilbert stood on the sidewalk, next to the wire fence that they had placed around it to make sure no one got hurt. Gilbert glanced back and gave him a smile and a wave. Matthew smiled back and rushed over to stand next to him. He could feel safer with Gilbert there.

"So, why meet here, of all places?" Matthew asked. The cafeteria was mostly rebuilt by now, but it looked like they were doing some renovations in other areas, too. Rich schools.

"I was texting Arthur," Gilbert shrugged. "He said he wanted to talk to us about something. Apparently, something big happened yesterday."

"Do you think it has something to do with his brother?" Matthew asked and Gilbert shrugged.

"You know, I think it's fucking cool that you could tear apart a whole building," Gilbert laughed slightly. "It fucking hurt, but it was cool."

"More like terrifying," Matthew muttered. "I don't want to know the full extent of my powers. Ever."

"If you keep thinking about it like it's something you should be scared of, you'll keep thinking like that," Gilbert smirked and Matthew gave him a questioning look. "Your powers are yours, got it? You've got the control from here on out, it's not the other way around. Take it from someone who was born with 'em. They're fucking awesome, not scary. Treat 'em like that and I'm sure you'll be one of the strongest out there."

"What if I don't want to be strong?" Matthew asked. "I definitely don't think I could be a superhero like Energy."

"You don't have to be," Gilbert shrugged. "But if you keep going along, terrified of what's inside of you, instead of being a master of it, you're life's gonna suck, flat out. It'll control you, not the other way around."

Matthew stayed silent. He knew all of that and it was easy for Gilbert to say, his powers were all fairly easy to figure out, he'd obviously had a lot of practice. Matthew, meanwhile, wasn't even sure if a simple thought could blow something up. He knew he shouldn't be afraid, but what else was he supposed to do? He didn't even know his limit…

"I'm rather surprised you managed to be here before me, Gilbert," Arthur said and Matthew's attention diverted from the subject, thankfully. Both of them looked over to where Arthur was walking up to them and Matthew noticed that the boy looked like he had hardly slept since they last saw each other. Despite that, he kept his usual demeanor as he glanced at the school. "I imagine we'll be back in a couple of weeks."

"Probably," Gilbert sighed. "That's such a bummer. I kinda wish we'd destroyed more of the school than that."

"Gilbert," Matthew snapped and Gilbert snickered.

"So, what's this big thing you needed to talk about?" Gilbert asked.

"My brother talked to me yesterday," Arthur sighed. "He…showed me what you two talked about. And the sick bastard was proud of it."

"What did you do?" Matthew asked.

"I pretended to agree with him," Arthur muttered. "For some reason, he's finding it important that I agree with him and know how to take over after him. I don't understand it at all, considering I still have other older brothers and he appears to be doing fine running it on his own." Arthur leaned heavily against the fence with a sigh and Matthew could tell by looking at him, and with a little unwanted help from his powers, that this was affecting him a lot.

"Well, if he's already planning for you to take over after him, then that's in our favor," Gilbert muttered. "I would prefer to actually know what's going through that bastard's mind."

"I'm not sure if I could handle another brotherly talk with him," Arthur muttered. "There were quite a few things neither of you were able to see." Matthew didn't want to ask what those were and he forced himself to turn away so he wouldn't get any images from Arthur's mind. When he looked down the other side of the street, however, he saw two other people walking towards them. One of them, he easily recognized and was instantly confused. Gilbert noticed and glanced over, tensing slightly.

"You?" Gilbert asked, standing in front of Matthew slightly. It was Elizabeta and…someone else, but Matthew knew that she had a deep emotional attachment with the man and seemed to trust him. Matthew could only hope that they really could.

"Aw, is that really the only way you greet me?" Elizabeta pouted slightly.

"Who are these two?" Arthur asked behind them.

"What are you doing here?" Gilbert asked, ignoring his question. "And who the fuck is this other guy?"

"My name is Roderich," the man muttered and Matthew could tell that he was uncomfortable being this close to mutants.

"And it's kind of a long chain," Elizabeta chuckled awkwardly. "Alfred told Kiku, who told us, that you would be here."

"Alfred's talked to him?" Matthew asked. Gilbert had told him a few things about Kiku, but not a lot…When had Alfred talked to him?

"We need to talk to you about the Kirkland Corporation," Elizabeta continued.

"So that's it, then?" Arthur sighed and didn't make a move from where he stood. Elizabeta looked at him curiously.

"Oh, so you're the little brother he always talks about," Elizabeta smiled brightly. "You have his eyes."

"I can't imagine anything that twat says about me is anything positive," Arthur muttered.

"Well, should we move somewhere a little more private for this conversation?" Elizabeta asked.

"What are we even gonna talk about?" Gilbert asked. He was hesitant to trust them, but Matthew knew just by looking at them that they meant no harm. Despite Roderich being conflicted, he was completely with Elizabeta on this one and wouldn't go against his word. Elizabeta, despite her happy demeanor, was very on edge and ready to move somewhere else.

"Where do you have in mind?" Matthew asked. This would be a good chance to ask about Alfred and Kiku, considering Elizabeta evidently knew him enough to be in contact with him.

Elizabeta smiled at him.

* * *

Allistor stared at his computer, nearly glaring, but no one was in the room to make that judgment. Roderich had gone completely off the map to find Elizabeta and, meanwhile, those two mutants were just walking around the streets. It was enough that all of his staff had basically _let_ the two mutants make it out alive, but now they couldn't do anything to get them back without making a big fuss. It was already astounding that Energy had stayed out of the radar of social media, but if Allistor even tried to make a move on either of them, it would put him in a very bad place. Neither mutant was about to get tricked easily again and the powers that Matthew had made it increasingly difficult to try anything. That was the one downside to the serum they had created; it was completely random. It would have been helpful if Matthew had gotten some kind of power that was easier to deal with.

Then there was the matter of his youngest brother. He couldn't really tell for sure if he was still hanging around the mutants or not, but he seemed to like the idea of taking over. It was all so, incredibly complicated ever since their father died. In that stupid will the bastard made, he explicitly said that he wanted _Arthur_ to take over the company, as soon as he was ready. Nothing about Allistor or any of the older brothers. It made no fucking sense, but Allistor had to cooperate with it.

He could only hope that Arthur would be smart and continue what Allistor was doing. Since he was quickly coming to the age where he could actually take over the company, he had to act quickly. Arthur had made it easy, simply complying and agreeing with him. If any other situation had presented itself, Allistor had various back up plans, but he didn't necessarily want to hurt Arthur like that. As hard as he was on the kid, it was for his own good. After all, taking over a huge company like this was big job full of shitty people, Allistor was just trying to make sure Arthur could handle it once he was at the top. And it definitely wouldn't do for the new "head of the company" to have bad grades in fucking high school, which was what infuriated Allistor the most. Arthur had thrown away nearly a year of his life because he felt like being a fucking rebel, but at least now he was back on the right track. Now Allistor just had to make sure that Arthur knew what he was doing when he took over.

Easier said than done.

The phone beside Allistor rung suddenly and he swiftly picked it up, glancing at the caller ID. He raised an eyebrow before answering it, not saying anything. The person on the other end of this call would already know that he had answered.

"_I have news that I believe you will like_," Roderich said on the other end of the line. Allistor was even more interested, but he couldn't let that be betrayed in his voice.

"Yeah?" Allistor asked boredly.

"_I know of a way for you to get the two mutants and Elizabeta back_," Roderich continued and he seemed a little hesitant, especially involving Elizabeta. Now this was interesting, but Allistor simply said nothing to encourage the man to continue. "_I can most likely do it on my own, as I have gained their trusts. I will also be able to get you the mutant that I worked with._"

"How are you going to accomplish all of that on your own?" Allistor asked. He knew Roderich's capabilities and he wasn't exactly the most able person.

"_As I said, I've already gained their trusts, though Kiku will be a bit harder to manage_," Roderich sighed. "_If you will allow me to use the experimental tablets, I can make them go to sleep without even realizing my betrayal._"

"How soon could you do this?" Allistor asked. He wasn't about to ask how he had gotten to know the mutants, but it was in their favor. They'd recently come up with these tablets that could disappear nearly immediately into any drink and cause a person to pass out within a minute. Granted, they hadn't been fully tested, and a few of the rats hadn't really woken up, but that wouldn't be much of a problem in the case of who they were taking into their custody.

"_Within a week, I would think_," Roderich said. Honestly, Allistor couldn't think of a reason to not at least try this tactic. If anything, he could bring Arthur over as well to see this. It would be interesting to see how he would react to his own former friends and what would happen to them. Depending on how he would react, Allistor could be sure how he felt about the company.

"I'll send them to you soon," Allistor said and ended the call. He could only hope for the best, then.

* * *

**A bit of a peek into the mind of Allistor. I love his character, if I'm going to be honest here. His character kinda developed on its own without my own consent. Originally, he wasn't even going to be that major of a character but then this happened…Anyway, you can decide how you feel about him in this chapter and a few chapters to come. The real question now is what Roderich is doing. Can we trust Matthew's powers or is he really going to backstab them? Fantastic questions, all of these.**

**Anywho, please review! And I'll update soon!**


	28. Anticipation

"No way in hell," Alfred deadpanned and Matthew sighed. He expected this kind of reaction from his brother.

"Alfred," Matthew sighed. "This really isn't something you can say no to."

"Try me, no," Alfred shook his head resolutely. They were sitting in the living room of their little apartment and Matthew had even made burgers to try to get Alfred into a better mood than he usually was, but that didn't seem to be working on Alfred. But Matthew knew that, considering the severity of what he was asking. "You're not risking your life like that, no way in hell."

"Alfred, they need me for this plan to work," Matthew said. "Please."

"What do they even need you for?" Alfred asked, ignoring his food, which was an odd sight. Though, Matthew did see him eyeing it out of the corner of his eye.

"Mind control, in essence," Matthew sighed. "It…shouldn't be too hard for me to do, considering everything." It didn't even sound hard to him, really. He could read a person's mind and emotions at will if he wanted, he could just tell without trying. Controlling them shouldn't be that far of a step ahead. "You can come along, too. You might even help, after all you are a human and he can't touch you."

"I may be human, but you're not," Alfred shot back. "And I still don't know who this 'he' even is, I'm still kinda in the dark about that, despite Kiku even telling me his fucking plan."

"It's…Allistor Kirkland," Matthew sighed. "Arthur's brother."

"Are you serious?" Alfred asked and Matthew nodded. "And Arthur's cool with this whole plan? He's basically in charge after everything."

"That's what he's told us and I'm not going to pry," Matthew said. "We already have so many people on our side on this, I'll be safe."

"You're still not going," Alfred said and Matthew sighed.

"How are you going to stop me from going?" Matthew asked. He hated having to pull this card, but he had to. There was Kiku, who could move himself and people through solid walls, Gilbert who was stronger than anyone, and Matthew could most likely make his way out on his own if he wanted.

"Matt, I just don't want you to be in danger again, is that so much to ask?" Alfred snapped.

"I'm going to keep being in danger until we do this," Matthew argued. "Do you know how terrifying it is, walking along the street and flinching at every car that slows down? Never trusting anyone that I pass by because they might attack me? Alfred, in order for this to stop, we need to do this, regardless of what you think is best for me. I'll be safer once this is over, I promise."

"And what if it doesn't go as planned?" Alfred asked quietly, looking down at his food blankly. "What if Kiku backstabs again, what if that Roderich guy goes back to his old boss? Or Elizabeta? What happens then?"

"Game over," Matthew muttered.

"This isn't a game!" Alfred snapped and he looked like he wanted to hit something, but was holding himself back. Matthew never liked it when his brother was angry, but he had to press this. He had to do this.

"I know," Matthew sighed. "I know, Alfred. I know exactly the dangers of going into this and I know what I'm getting myself into. I've been a part of this for a while now and I can't back out. They need me for this plan and I'm going, no matter what you say. All you can do is either sit back here and hope for the best or come with us and try as hard as you can with us."

"What about Ivan?" Alfred muttered. "Is he a part of this plan of yours?"

"Our plan would work a lot better if you and Ivan were there," Matthew admitted. "We could…make it by without you guys but it would be a lot better if you came with us. Alfred, you're basically untouchable and Ivan, too. He's the only mutant we know that Allistor doesn't know."

"You were untouchable, too, remember?" Alfred asked tentatively.

"He can't do any harm to you until you're a mutant," Matthew said. "And you can be sure all of us will make sure he doesn't get there."

"How come Roderich and Elizabeta aren't untouchable, they're human, right?" Alfred asked, looking at his burger again, but this time with a little more hunger. He was breaking down, Matthew could tell. He was almost relieved, they would be able to do this.

"They're…betraying the company by doing this," Matthew said carefully. "Once they went into it, they stopped existing, more or less. What happens in this company stays in it. As it is now. If this plan works out like we hope it will, we can set it right."

"And what about all the other ones like it in the world?" Alfred asked.

"We can't save everything, but this is a start," Matthew shrugged. "It's not like you to be so pessimistic, Al, what happened to wanting to be a hero and save the day?"

"I'm still a hero!" Alfred said proudly. "I'm just more realistic about it."

"And this can really happen," Matthew pressed. "Work with a real superhero and we'll try."

"It still scares me," Alfred sighed. "What'll happen if it fails? There's no going back."

"There was no going back from the minute they kidnapped me," Matthew said. "Their goal is to eradicate mutants. All of us. And the only way to stop it is to stop them in the process. I know what I'm getting myself into and I'm willing. What about you?"

"Maybe," Alfred muttered and finally picked up his burger. "That's not a yes, yet, got it? I'm gonna think through it."

"And probably talk to Ivan for a few hours while you're at it," Matthew muttered as he took a bite of his own burger. Alfred's face turned red, but he would never admit it.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Alfred snapped and Matthew smirked. It was okay if they got off topic for a little bit. Let everything feel a little more normal for a while.

"You've just been really close with Ivan lately, is all," Matthew shrugged. "Oh, yeah, I've been wondering if you guys have made it official yet."

"Made what official?" Alfred muttered as he took a bite, quickly followed after a few others.

"Nothing," Matthew hummed smugly and Alfred half-heartedly glared at him. "You know, I knew locking you in your room with him would be a good idea."

"No, that was a horrible idea, I got attacked!" Alfred protested. "The guy's a creep, always will be. I don't care if he's got cool powers or anything."

"And you like him," Matthew teased.

"I do not!" Alfred yelled, his face getting even redder.

"I'm sure," Matthew rolled his eyes.

"You better be," Alfred said. "Because there's nothing going on, no way in hell. Why the hell would I even like someone like him? That's just fucking crazy talk, I don't know where you come up with this shit."

"Says the guy that was cuddling with him on the couch," Matthew smirked and the blush reached Alfred's ears.

* * *

"Is everything in order?" Allistor asked, leaning back in his chair as he looked out, over the city. It was infested with those freaks and he wished he could just get rid of them all at once. Without going through the hassle of finding one. Roderich stood on the other end of the room and he was nervous, Allistor could tell. It made him smirk, just knowing he was getting under the skin of that man.

"Yes, sir," Roderich said and Allistor tapped his finger on his chair. They had a plan in place for these mutants. They apparently intended to try a sneak attack on the company, but Allistor was one step ahead, thanks to Roderich, who seemed fully committed to their good cause. "Their plan will be in two days, so our plan will be tomorrow."

"Good," Allistor nodded. "Make sure my brother is far away from it." He wasn't stupid, he knew that his brother was…overwhelmed. He thought it through and he knew it wouldn't be good for Arthur to see people he once thought as friends get basically killed. That wouldn't be fair to him.

"Of course," Roderich nodded. "What of the brothers of the mutants?"

"They're not important," Allistor muttered. "We've had Ludwig under our watch for a while, he's a human, and so are the rest of Energy's relatives, it's a freak in its own family. And Matthew's brother shouldn't have anything in him, considering his brother was just our experiment. As long as they're out of the way as well, we'll be fine. It's not like either of them can do anything after we do something. What about this other mutant that you were talking about?"

"Ivan has abilities around cold and heat," Roderich explained. "It has control of ice and the temperature, though anything past that seems out of its reach. As long as it is restrained, there should be no problems."

"So our main problem is Matthew," Allistor sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Make sure he gets a higher dose than the rest. We need to make sure he's out cold. We'll kill him immediately, the others we'll use the drug on." The drug was one thing Allistor had been working on for months. It was meant to specifically target the mutant gene and kill the host it finds it in, being completely harmless to humans. If they could make it fully functional and perhaps even in the form of a gas, then they could use it all over the city, all over the world, and get rid of all of the mutants. He just needed guinea pigs and he had three coming right to him.

"I should go back, sir," Roderich said. "So not to arouse suspicion."

"Yeah," Allistor sighed and Roderich quickly retreated from the room, firmly shutting the door behind him. Allistor sighed heavily after that, leaning even more in his chair. He was exhausted, hardly getting any sleep. It would all be worth it, though, once this whole fiasco was over and done with. He would get his brother under control and everything would be on the right path. Easy.

* * *

Alfred was antsy. He was breathing shakily, his hands were shaking, he couldn't stand still to save his life. Despite all of that, he wasn't drawing any attention to himself. He was standing in the lobby of the Kirkland Corporation building, blending in with all of the other humans that didn't seem to know what was going on underneath their own feet. He took a deep breath, looking at Ludwig across the room once again. They'd been there for maybe ten minutes but it felt like so much longer than that. It didn't feel right, not talking to their other friends about this, like Francis and Lovino, but everyone wanted to make sure as few people got involved as possible.

Alfred knew the entirety of the plan. Roderich would pretend to give the mutants and Elizabeta this drug that would knock them out cold and they would come in here to be tested on and they would escape before they got there, going up the elevator to Allistor. Arthur was waiting just outside of the building to join them once the plan got in motion.

The only problem Alfred had was with trusting Roderich, who was still a part of this stupid corporation. He could give them the drug for real. The only way to know for sure if the plan was going their way was when they got there. If they reached the elevator and none of the mutants moved, it was all over. Alfred's life would be over, everyone he cared about would be in that elevator. They would be gone.

The doors from the outside opened and a few people, obviously scientists with body guards, came in with stretchers, Matthew, Gilbert, Ivan, Kiku, and Elizabeta on them. Alfred swallowed thickly. The guards ordered everyone to remain calm and they did. Maybe they did know what was going on beneath their feet… The stretchers moved across the floor at what seemed to be an incredibly slow pace. Like an inch a minute. Alfred clenched his fists tightly, staring at his brother intently. He didn't even twitch, he looked sound asleep.

Arthur carefully stepped in while everyone's focus was on the stretchers and Alfred saw Ludwig tense across from him. Alfred's heartbeat was in his ears as he breathed in and out shakily. This was the longest period of time in his life. He saw Roderich with all of the other scientists, walking proudly and not showing any signs of his betrayal. Alfred doubted everything and expected the worst. But he still stared at his brother's face in hope that he would move, twitch, anything.

They reached the elevator.

* * *

**Hehe…he… I feel bad, but I'm just gonna leave this cliffhanger here. Bear in mind, they haven't gotten in the elevator quite yet. Anyway, I thought about including all of the others; Francis, Lovino, Feliciano, Antonio…but, I decided against it. That's a huge crowd for this kind of mission, for one, and they aren't intensely involved like all of the others are. So, that's that. Anyway, look forward to next chapter and we can see what really happened here. As you can see, it all relies on Roderich, who Alfred obviously doesn't trust much.**

**Anywho, please review and don't kill me for the cliffhanger! I'll be back soon! I swear!**


	29. Memory

Matthew took deep breaths. It took a lot of effort to stay calm in the situation he was in. They entered a building, he could tell that much, and guards with deep voices ordered everyone to stay calm. They were in the Kirkland Corporation. Now was the time for the plan to go into action. He fought not to open his eyes or move at all. He just had to hope that Alfred was there, that he didn't get split up from the others. He collected his thoughts quickly before he reached out to the others.

_Ready?_ He sent out a message to the others telepathically. He had made sure they were all linked before they began this whole thing, despite how Gilbert and Elizabeta protested to having each other in their heads. Matthew made sure that no random thoughts went between them, just focused thoughts that were meant to be heard.

_Bring it,_ Gilbert said easily.

_Da,_ Ivan said. Matthew noticed that Ivan never quite got the hang of this, speaking mostly in Russian, but they didn't mind.

_I'm good,_ Elizabeta said, though she was a little nervous.

_I am ready_, Kiku said.

Matthew took a deep breath. They could do this. He could do this. It was going to be fine. He wouldn't get hurt, everyone would work to make sure no one got hurt. They could do this.

_Go_. Matthew thought.

He opened his eyes just as all of the stretchers they were strapped to slipped and he flinched when his clamored to the ground. He acted quickly, focusing hard on the straps holding him down and they eventually came undone themselves. It scared him how easily he could do that sort of thing, but he focused more on the matter at hand and quickly scrambled to his feet just to see Gilbert break out of his own holding. Kiku was already on his feet and Ivan was on his way there. Kiku went to help Elizabeta and Gilbert acted quickly, using an energy construct to hide them from the bullets that were already aimed at them.

Matthew looked around immediately to look for his brother and saw that Alfred was already on his way, running with a massive smile on his face. Gilbert opened the energy construct around them to let Alfred in, as well as Ludwig, and Arthur slid in as well.

"At least we're on track," Roderich muttered.

"Yeah, piece of cake," Gilbert muttered and Matthew noticed that he was already growing tired. He never thought of how much effort it took for Gilbert to make sure his constructs could stand against something like a constant barrage of bullets.

"Let's get moving now, then," Arthur sighed and they turned to the still open elevator.

"Let's hope it still works," Elizabeta muttered and they all quickly moved inside, Gilbert moving to having the construct only over the door.

"I'm really not up to bringing all of your asses up that high," Gilbert smirked as Alfred tried the button and it surprisingly worked.

"We don't know how long it will work for until Allistor notices something," Roderich said while the elevator moved up. This was going a lot smoother than Matthew hoped it would. It was almost eerie.

"You guys scared the shit out of me," Alfred snapped at about the twelfth floor. "Why'd you wait so long?"

"It was Birdie that waited so long to get us moving," Gilbert smirked. "Don't worry, we've got this."

"As long as you're sure," Ludwig muttered.

"There is no telling what else they will have for us," Ivan muttered. Matthew could tell he was scared of getting caught like the others. He was very uncomfortable with the idea of having his abilities known to others, especially an organization like this.

"Only one way to find out," Gilbert smirked. "Go in fighting."

"That will not always work," Elizabeta sighed.

"Yeah? It's worked for me this far," Gilbert said proudly.

"You were captured once," Elizabeta reminded happily.

"Quiet, both of you," Arthur snapped and Matthew noticed that the elevator had reached the top, slowing to a stop. Gilbert immediately put an energy construct back over the door. It was a miracle nothing stopped them on the way up there. That must have meant that there was something waiting for them at the top.

The doors opened and Matthew gasped when he saw the amount of people waiting for them, all of them holding guns. They opened fire immediately and Matthew took a startled step back.

"Jesus fucking Christ," Gilbert cursed and went to his knees. He gritted his teeth and the energy construct remained in place, surprisingly. "Just took me by surprise, I'm fine, don't worry."

"What now?" Alfred asked.

"Kiku," Matthew muttered, looking at the smaller mutant. "Do you think you could get us over to Allistor?"

"If he's still even here," Roderich said. "He might have escaped already."

"We can try," Kiku nodded. "I'm not sure how well it will work."

"I trust you," Matthew smiled at the man. Kiku carefully took hold of his arm before he carefully moved through the barrier Gilbert had made. It was a strange feeling when Matthew went through, but he ignored it easily enough. Matthew already felt bullets going through him, but never hurting him. And he moved quickly with Kiku. The men looked startled, trying to aim at them more than the construct, but none dared to shoot behind them, which made Matthew smile. They made their way through the closed doors.

A man Matthew recognized from his time in the basement of the same building stood from his chair, a look of fear mixed with rage tracing his face. And Matthew ran. Allistor pulled a gun from under his desk and Matthew slid over the wood, knocking papers and expensive looking trinkets to the ground. He gripped onto Allistor's head, despite the gun digging into his own stomach, and touched his forehead carefully to Allistor's.

And then he was no longer in the room. Matthew gasped slightly as he felt…odd. He knew immediately he was in Allistor's mind, though he didn't know how he could tell. The plan was to get control over him, force him to stop everything. But Matthew wasn't okay with that. He had another plan in mind, it would just take some patience and effort.

Allistor was already starting to fight back as Matthew moved, looking through Allistor's thoughts. Immediately, his hatred for mutants came across. Very clearly. He used many curse words and images to show exactly how he felt, but Matthew kept going. He went deeper into Allistor's thoughts and found a few interesting things, though he knew he couldn't stay on them for long. There was his love for his brother, which Arthur denied every day. There was a respect for the mutants he had for their willingness to go this far. There was fear not only towards the mutants, but also towards the future. Matthew learned about the will left behind by his father, clearly leaving the company in Arthur's hands.

Arthur hadn't told them about that, perhaps he planned to mention it after Allistor was under their control. Matthew moved deeper, despite Allistor obviously protesting and attempting to put up walls around him to stop him. Matthew easily moved everything out of his way. He reached Allistor's memories. His thoughts towards Arthur wasting everything on his rebellious phase. How scared he was when he was left to take over the company. His despair after the death of his father, which he blamed on a mutant. The fun he had had in Scotland, drinking to his heart's content and forgetting about his family. Everything was laid in front of Matthew and he felt almost bad, going so far into Allistor's private thoughts.

But Matthew eventually found what he was looking for. A simple memory, one that didn't look like much, but it was more than enough.

_Allistor was 12, sitting with his family around a table while his father read the newspaper. They were still in England, but the company was about to move its base of operations to America. Allistor wasn't excited to move, but he looked at his brothers. They were excited to go to a new place and Arthur was smiling, talking all about how his imaginary friends promised to follow him. Their mother just nodded and said that was nice._

"_Those damn mutants again," his father cursed and Allistor jumped when the man slammed his newspaper on the table, spilling his tea slightly._

"_What's wrong, dad?" Allistor was the first to pipe up, their mother too scared to say anything against the man. He was terrifying, but Allistor was a big, strong boy now. Biggest of his brothers. He was fine._

"_Ever since those freaks started showing themselves in the news ten years ago, they keep popping up," his father grumbled, glaring at his tea. "What good do they do? They're worthless trash. They're the ones that are causing the market to crash, I'm sure."_

"_Yeah?" Allistor asked. He believed every word his father was telling him._

"_Of course they are!" his father snapped. He talked about a bunch of technical terms Allistor didn't understand. But he got the general message. Mutants were what was wrong with the world, they were causing all of the hardships. Allistor soaked it all in._

Matthew hesitated at first. It was the first solid memory Allistor had of mutants. It was what morphed his entire opinion at them. Allistor wasn't fighting back anymore. Matthew was too far back in his subconscious.

With a little hesitation, Matthew wiped away the memory. More specifically, he changed it. It took a lot of effort, but Matthew was able to weave a story that Allistor accepted and it locked into place.

"_Those damn mutants again," his father cursed and Allistor jumped when the man slammed his newspaper on the table, spilling his tea slightly._

"_What's wrong, dad?" Allistor was the first to pipe up._

"_Ever since those freaks started showing themselves in the news ten years ago, they keep popping up," his father grumbled, glaring at his tea. "What good do they do? They're worthless trash. They're the ones that are causing the market to crash, I'm sure."_

"_Yeah?" Allistor asked, believing every word his father was telling him._

"_Your father is just overreacting," his mother sighed, shaking her head. "Don't listen to him, mutants are fine, they're just people."_

"_No," his father snapped. "They're a menace."_

"_The only menaces you see are the ones that are serial killers and murderers, humans do the same thing," his mother hummed. Allistor nodded._

Allistor's mind quickly accepted this new memory, soaking in what Matthew was making his mother say. Matthew could tell that Allistor trusted his mother a lot, at least until she left their family when he was sixteen. Matthew knew that as a kid, Allistor would trust nearly everything he had his mother say. Just a little bit more pushing.

"_Shut up, woman," his father snapped. "These killers are worse than humans, they can cause much more damage."_

"_Listen to me Allistor," his mother smiled softly at him. "All of you boys. Don't treat a mutant different because they can just do other things. Got it?"_

"_Yeah!" Allistor nodded proudly._

Matthew let out a sigh of relief. Allistor accepted it. His personality twisted just slightly. His father would go on rants about the mutants and Allistor simply wrote it off as the man going too far. When his father chased a mutant to his own death, he just viewed it as his old man going too far on his crazy dream again. All of the events of the past still happened, though.

Matthew worked hard to make it very clear to the man. Everything that had happened in the past really did happen. Allistor would be fully aware that Matthew changed his memory to change his mind, but he wouldn't know what the original memory was. Allistor would know how he changed, he would just forget how he used to feel.

Matthew felt himself slipping, he was getting tired. This was taking a lot out of him. He was washed forward by Allistor's memories, pushed into the present. Allistor's thoughts were now completely different. He was…confused. Conflicted. He felt horrible.

Matthew slowly opened his eyes, greeted by the bright green eyes of the man in front of him. They were wide as Matthew stared at him. He dropped the gun and it clattered to the ground. Matthew smiled faintly at him.

"I'm so sorry," Allistor muttered, shaking his head, and Matthew nodded.

And then he slipped again, the world going black.

* * *

**I've done a twist like this in the past…Take the villain, change his memories, make him not the villain. I like this path quite a lot. Matthew wouldn't be okay with the original plan at all, which was forcefully taking over Allistor's mind and making him do what they wanted until Arthur could take over. Now's a more peaceful way that Matthew is much happier with, so we're all good. I hope the whole mind thing wasn't too confusing, I tried to make sure it made sense!**

**Anyway, please review!**


	30. Tired

Gilbert gritted his teeth. He hated this. Watching Matthew go ahead alone while he was stuck playing shield. It was hard, too. All of the force going against his energy construct was taking a lot out of him. He could hardly keep it up, but he had to. He had no idea how Allistor had managed to get people to open fire when there were humans around, but that was a question for another day.

"What should we do?" Elizabeta asked.

"So now you ask the question?" Gilbert snapped, about ready to fall over. "Dammit…" He was exhausted, but those men just didn't fucking stop. Did they have unlimited ammo and were they just told to fire until they all died?

"So much for being untouchable," Alfred muttered.

"I can try something," Ivan shrugged and Gilbert fought to roll his eyes. He was relying on the guy that was terrified to have people know he was a mutant? Next pigs would fly. Ivan took a deep breath and outstretched his hand. Surprisingly, the movements of the people outside grew sluggish, the ones that were changing ammo clenched their hands. Gilbert noticed through the color of the energy barrier that their breaths could be seen clearly. Less guns were firing at once, which was a small relief to Gilbert, but a relief nonetheless. He still could barely move with his construct up, but even he could feel the cold creeping into the small elevator, which he was keeping up with another construct, despite people attempting to call the cab down multiple times.

And then the door on the other side of the hall opened loudly. The man stopped, registering the cold properly. Gilbert recognized him immediately; that was Allistor Kirkland. He felt rage bubble up in his chest for that despicable man and felt some of his energy return to him. It'd be just enough.

Just as Gilbert started to try standing, however, something…impossible happened.

"Cease fire," Allistor commanded and the men stopped immediately, feebly attempting to warm themselves up. Ivan dropped his hand and the temperature stayed where it was. Everyone in the cab looked at the man with the same expression and Gilbert tightened his hands into fists.

He finally dropped his constructs and ran forward, pushing past the soldiers, and slammed the man into the wall closest to him with all of his strength. There was a small crater in the wall behind him and the man looked dizzy for a while as he attempted to regain his breath. Gilbert glanced around, but Matthew was nowhere to be seen.

"What the fuck did you do with Matthew, bastard?" Gilbert growled out, pressing his forearm hard onto Allistor's chest, making it hard for him to breathe, but not impossible.

"He's fine," Allistor muttered out. "Fucking Christ, I didn't touch him."

"You touching him is what did this," Gilbert stated and Allistor rolled his eyes. Gilbert pushed harder.

"Don't kill him," Arthur sighed, walking up to them and rubbing his hands together. Gilbert vaguely registered the fact that the cold air around them was steadily getting warmer. "Remember our plan, if Matthew did what he said he could, then we should be fine."

"Hate to say it, but your little friend strayed from your plan," Allistor had the gall to smirk and Gilbert snarled, pressing harder.

"Mattie," Alfred muttered and ran into the room Allistor had come from. Gilbert sighed and let go of the man to run into the room. Alfred had sounded concerned, and when Gilbert looked in that direction, he could see Matthew, passed out on the ground with Kiku checking his pulse.

"Shit," Gilbert cursed and followed after Alfred to sit on the ground beside the poor boy. Gilbert's exhaustion caught up with him again and he struggled to keep his eyes open, but he had to make sure that Matthew was okay. So far, it looked like there was no scratch on him.

"He is fine," Kiku noted. "You can check for yourself if you don't trust me."

"Mattie," Alfred sighed heavily, he swiftly picked Matthew up and hugged him close. Gilbert smirked and rolled his eyes. Matthew's head lolled slightly and he blearily opened his eyes.

"H-Hey, Al," Matthew muttered. He sounded more tired than weak, in all honesty, and Gilbert laughed slightly.

"I'm so happy you're okay, dude, I was so freaking scared this whole time," Alfred muttered to him. "What the fuck did you even do?"

"I…changed his mind," Matthew muttered.

"What?" Gilbert asked and Matthew blinked, blearily looking at him.

"You look like shit, Gil," Matthew laughed slightly and Gilbert rolled his eyes. "I changed a memory in his mind, not a big one…but I changed his mind about mutants."

"How'd you manage that?" Alfred asked.

"No idea," Matthew offered a lopsided smile before closing his eyes again with a small hum. He looked so comfortable and Gilbert sighed happily, leaning against the leg of the desk. That was a load off there. Matthew was just fine. Now Allistor was another matter entirely. So a memory changed that supposedly changed the man, how could they be sure he really changed? Gilbert glanced over the desk to the group around Allistor, who was waving off the people with guns. Ludwig shook his head as he walked towards the desk and away from the group that all looked equally confused. Ivan stood at the back, keeping his distance, but Arthur was incredibly intrigued.

"You shouldn't run off like that when you're so tired," Ludwig sighed as he stood in front of Gilbert.

"Ah, gee, and here I thought you'd be supportive like Al," Gilbert smirked, glancing at the other two as Alfred gently set Matthew back down.

"You were foolish to try attacking a man like him in a condition that you are in," Ludwig said as he knelt down, placing a hand on Gilbert's shoulder. "Be more careful, please."

Gilbert laughed, tilting his head back as he did so. "Come on, West, give me another heavily cloaked idea of concern."

"Take this seriously, Gilbert," Ludwig sighed, shaking his head. "It appears Allistor has no intention of attacking us, I assume it has something to do with Matthew?"

"He said he changed a memory in his head," Alfred muttered. "He went away from the original plan, but it looks like it's still working."

"Interesting," Ludwig nodded and looked back at Allistor, who joked and teased with his own brother. Gilbert almost felt a little sad he couldn't properly play the role of older brother, due to him being so exhausted, but he had Ludwig for that. "We will need to keep him under observation. Gilbert, it might be best that you rest now, considering how hard you have already worked."

"No way," Gilbert scoffed. "Why the hell would I miss out on the fun parts?"

"This will be more about talking than fighting," Ludwig said simply as he stood up. "I know you would fall asleep even in your best condition."

"You're so sweet," Gilbert laughed once again. Ludwig was right. As much as Gilbert wanted to be a part of it, the peace talks and everything after fighting was never Energy's job, that was what the cops and judges always did. Gilbert wouldn't even be helpful in this case. Gilbert already felt his eyelids beginning to droop just by thinking about it. "Put in a few awesome words for me, will ya?"

"I will be sure to," Ludwig chuckled slightly before walking over to the others with Kiku following closely behind him.

"Dude, you guys are so weird," Alfred muttered and Gilbert half-heartedly glared at him.

"Says the guy that got locked in his room with a psycho mutant by his bruder," Gilbert smirked and laughed when he saw Alfred's face of pure shock and humiliation.

"Mattie told you about that?" Alfred snapped. "You little bastard!" Alfred glared down at Matthew's unconscious face.

"Do me a favor," Gilbert smirked. "Don't fucking draw on my face, alright?" It was hard to stay awake at this point, even with Alfred's obnoxious voice in his ear. He didn't even get to hear Alfred's response before he already drifted off, his head lolling slightly to the side.

* * *

Alfred sighed as he leaned against the desk, his brother and Gilbert sleeping soundly behind it. The door to the office was closed with Ivan standing in front of it to make sure Allistor wouldn't try to run away. Everyone else that was still standing looked at the man in the center of the room, though a lot of them gave him a lot of space, aside form Arthur, who looked almost confused.

"So are we going to stay fucking quiet this whole time?" Allistor scoffed from where he stood in the center of the room. "Or should I start in this stupid sharing circle?"

"Do you know what Matt did to you?" Alfred asked.

"Yes, he changed a memory, I don't fucking know which one," Allistor rolled his eyes. "Apparently it was a big one. I don't know what made me hate the mutants as much as I did, so don't fucking ask me. And I'm bloody sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it for all of what you did," Elizabeta spoke up. Roderich stood behind her, apparently almost afraid to speak up to his former boss. Then again, a lot of the people in that room were teenagers, and this man was at least five years older than all of them. Everyone was intimidated, aside from Allistor, who seemed perfectly comfortable with the situation.

"I'll fix what I can," Allistor shrugged. "What the fuck do you expect me to do for the ones that have died? The company's got a lot of money, I can send money to families, like they'll even accept anything from me. You all can rest easy, I'll only be in charge until Art can do it on his own."

"Was Matthew able to still follow through with the original plan?" Ludwig wondered out loud.

"No, fucking genius," Allistor laughed slightly. "Dad always had a favorite, he left the company to Arthur, I'm just a placeholder."

"You are the next president of the company?" Roderich finally spoke up and Alfred fought not to have his jaw hang open. Okay, so he was out of the loop in a few places. Arthur was going to be the next one in charge of his company? Sure, it made a lot of sense, a lot of the new friends he and his brother had made would grow up and take charge of massive corporations, that was what that school was for.

"Yes, I've seen the will, it happened to be on his desk a few days ago," Arthur sighed, shaking his head. "I don't believe that one memory was enough to change your mind on mutants."

"I don't hate them, but that doesn't mean I really like them," Allistor sighed. "The mind reader would have to work a lot harder to make that happen. Mutants can do whatever the fuck they want, I don't care. I don't even understand why we're having this conversation. If you don't trust me, wait for your mind reader to wake up."

"I…" Arthur paused for a moment. "I agree that there isn't much to talk about regarding all of you. You all can go home. Alfred and Ludwig, on the fifth floor, there are cots in a resting area for the workers that decide to stay overnight. You may allow Gilbert and Matthew to rest there, I'm sure it's more comfortable on the floor. There are a few things my brother and I will have to talk over alone."

"Aw, my little Art's acting all grown up," Allistor smirked and Arthur glared at him. "What'll happen next?"

"Alright," Alfred nodded. He was sure he wouldn't understand any of the technical business talk anyway and, as much as he didn't want his brother in this building for very long, resting on a cot would be a good idea. Way better than carrying him home. Alfred still didn't quite trust Allistor, but he did trust his brother. He had done what he thought was right and that was all that mattered.

Alfred quickly moved to pick up his brother, who groaned slightly in his sleep, but kept his eyes closed. The room was silent as he left and Ivan followed. Ludwig lingered slightly, already asking a question that Alfred didn't understand very well as the door closed behind them.

"I don't get all of that business stuff," Alfred grumbled while Ivan chuckled amusedly while pressing the elevator button.

"I did not expect you to," Ivan said.

"Are you calling me stupid?" Alfred asked.

"Not at all," Ivan hummed. "We should be thankful that this turned out as it did. I did not expect Allistor to allow open fire on humans and Matvey was very smart in what he did."

"Yeah," Alfred sighed heavily. The lights above the elevator doors told him that the elevator was moving up to greet them. "How…How long until everything returns to normal?"

"Hopefully soon," Ivan said. "Gilbert already seemed like his normal self and a few of the others seemed to have relaxed by now."

"Why was I the first to walk away from all of it?" Alfred asked.

"We do not have much to do with it," Ivan said. "You are not affected by what the leader of this company does, at least not directly anymore. My company deals with entirely different aspects and I am not involved. The Beilschmidt company and the Kirkland company are very closely tied and that is why Ludwig stayed. The others were former employees and his own brother. It is not cowardly to walk away from something that does not concern you."

"Yeah, you're all gonna be big CEOs and Mattie and I are just little nobodies," Alfred muttered under his breath as the elevator finally reached them and opened with a happy, little ding.

"I do not view you as unimportant," Ivan shrugged as they stepped inside. Matthew shifted slightly in Alfred's arms. Alfred hadn't done something like this in a while and he was already starting to feel a little tired. Sure, he was strong, but nothing compared to Gilbert, who could do this in his sleep. "If it were not for Fredka and Matvey, would all of this have happened? Nyet. Outsiders to the usual world of business are always welcome to start change."

"Is all of this what you call business?" Alfred laughed humorlessly.

"It could have been a lot worse," Ivan offered and Alfred stayed silent. He had been pretty much useless this entire time. He was just there to make sure his brother would be safe during all of this, but he stood in the back and watched other people take control. He wasn't much of a hero at all, he definitely didn't feel like a hero. The world they'd gotten themselves into was far too huge for Alfred to be able to keep his brother safe like he should have been doing.

As the elevator moved down in silence, Alfred let out a sigh and Ivan simply mirrored the silence. Was Alfred really that useless?

* * *

**So the main plot's wrapped itself up more or less nicely. Now's the rocky patches that lie ahead, mostly with Alfred and Matthew. The whole Arthur thing, I think he has under control, it will just be stressful. And I don't know a lot of business talk, so I wouldn't be able to portray that part well anyway. In any case, lots of loose ends to be tied ahead!**

**Anyway, please review! It's fantastic.**


	31. Letter

Matthew was actually kind of happy. He was walking with his brother, joking with him, as they walked along the street. Matthew was still a little anxious about the cars and people, but he knew he could relax, just slightly. He'd woken up on a cot in the Kirkland building and Gilbert was still asleep beside him. Ludwig had said they didn't need to wait around for Gilbert to wake up and so Alfred immediately suggested "brotherly bonding" and insisted they walked home together. Matthew didn't mind, of course. But he could tell there was something…off about his brother. Like he was second guessing himself or something, but Matthew wasn't about to press anything.

"So, do you know what I still don't get?" Alfred asked just as they reached their apartment and started to take the stairs up. "Like, why did Mom and Dad's will insist we go to our school? It's not like we're inheriting some huge ass company or anything."

"Well, it's a fairly expensive school," Matthew shrugged. "Maybe they thought that meant it would be the best."

"Whatever," Alfred shrugged and pulled out his key. "It's just weird, right? I mean, the will could have said nothing about moving schools and we could have stayed where we were."

"I'm not sure if I would have preferred that," Matthew muttered. Yes, he would definitely prefer to not have to go through all that he did, but meeting Gilbert and everyone else made it worth it.

"You're just weird, little bro," Alfred laughed and Matthew rolled his eyes. He wasn't going to say anything about him actually being older. They reached the door and Alfred swiftly opened it. There was mail scattered in front of the door from the little slot. Alfred always went on about how cool the slot was and always insisted on picking it up. Matthew continued into their apartment as Alfred closed the door and picked up the mail, looking through it.

"Probably nothing interesting again," Matthew sighed.

"Uh, dude," Alfred paused where he was, the rest of the mail aside from one had fallen on the floor. He stared at the one in his hand in complete shock. Matthew immediately went over beside him. "This is Dad's handwriting."

"It is," Matthew muttered, getting a closer look. "Open it."

"Yeah, yeah," Alfred nodded and swiftly opened the envelope, practically mauling the paper, but the paper on the inside remained safe and sound. He opened the letter up and Matthew read the date. The day before their parents died. He glanced at his brother.

"Did they send this to future us?" Matthew asked.

"That's really freaky," Alfred muttered. "I mean, a letter the day before they died?" Matthew bit his lip, but looked back at the letter. Alfred, apparently decided to read it out loud. "_Alfred and Matthew. We have no idea how to start this, honestly. Well, we can start with something simple, your mother is a mutant. She has the ability to see the future._" Alfred stopped and Matthew stood still.

"What?" Matthew asked quietly.

"That's…that's gotta be another one of Dad's jokes," Alfred shook his head and continued to read._ "She knows we're going to die by the hands of a madman and we are both extremely proud of you for being able to look past the fact that it was a fellow mutant that killed her. We were going to tell you, but we ran out of time. Your mother says she wants you to go through a certain part of your lives before you find out, and it looks like at this point you have._"

"Mom knew this was going to happen?" Matthew asked. What was their mother thinking, forcing him to go through everything that he did?

Alfred just continued reading the letter. "_We can start from the beginning here, sort of. We wanted you two to have the best future possible. Yes, we could have kept you in the same neighborhood and going to the same school, but that would make your lives boring and neither of us want that to happen to you. We looked through so many schools until we came across the one you're attending. When I saw your mother's face as she saw your possible future there, I knew this would be where you would have to go. Now, we are incredibly sorry that you had to endure all of the hardships that you did, but we are incredibly proud with how you handled it and the amazing young men you are now because of it._" Alfred paused. "Well, it sure as hell wasn't boring."

"They wanted all of that to happen?" Matthew muttered quietly. No, that wasn't it. They didn't necessarily want him to suffer, they just didn't want him and Alfred to sit around and do nothing with their lives.

"_Matthew, the reason your DNA reacted so well with that serum was the fact that your mother was a mutant. It's quite possible that, if she were not a mutant, you would have died from that experiment._" Alfred's voice trailed at the last few words before he swallowed thickly and continued, Matthew reading it himself right after him._ "We understand that your powers are…immense and powerful and that you're scared. But we also know that you're strong, you lived through the experiment and you beat your personal villain, in your own way. You may not ever fully discover what your powers are. (I should say here that your mother only knows up to a certain point with certainty. After some points, it gets a little wonky.) We both encourage you to not be afraid, no matter how terrifying it is. Look at them as the gift that they are and Gilbert is encouraging you that they are._" They knew about Gilbert? How much did their mother know about that? What did she think about it?_ "You do not need to be scared of what you will become because you have already shown what a wonderful person you are."_

Matthew's heart swelled at that moment. His mother could tell from so far away that he was scared and she always knew the right words to say, even though it was their father writing. He was always better at controlling his emotions and putting it down on paper. Was this just their parents way of making sure that they could make it through this rough patch in their lives? If it was his mother and father talking about it, then maybe he could bring himself to relax more about his powers…

"_Alfred._" Alfred paused for a second, thinking. Matthew had to wonder what their parents had to say about him. He did seem…odd, but Matthew had no idea what was bothering him._ "Your mother knows you are very conflicted right now and I can get that. But we both have to thank you for how much you're looking out for your brother. How long you searched for him when he was missing, how hard you worked to make sure he was as safe as you could make him. Just because you are human and not from a rich family, doesn't make you useless. You are much stronger than a lot of humans in this world, even some mutants. There are no words to describe what you are, so don't get caught up if "hero" doesn't work out._" Alfred choked up there and Matthew smiled slightly. So that was it.

Matthew took the letter from his brother to continue reading._ "You need to always be there for your brother, no matter how much support he has. Out of all of them, you are the strongest, even if one of them has super strength._" Matthew laughed slightly and Alfred gave a lop-sided smile._ "And trust your father when he says that, when you're around a bunch of mutants, being human is pretty cool._"

"Dad, learn to take things seriously," Alfred laughed and Matthew noticed that he had some tears in his eyes. Then Matthew noticed he had tears of his own. And they weren't even done yet. This was really their parents really looking into the future and wishing the best for them.

"_We're proud of both of you and the friends you have chosen are, by far, the best you could have chosen. Ivan is a wonderful person, despite everything you say about him, Alfred._" Matthew fought back a snicker. So they were alright with what Alfred and Matthew had chosen to do, regarding their partners._ "And Gilbert is incredibly strong, inside and out. We are proud of all decisions you have made, regarding how you two feel about them. And your other friends, inside and outside of school, mutant or otherwise, are as important to us as they are to you._"

"Are they talking about Elizabeta and Roderich?" Alfred asked. "Kiku seems cool, I guess. I'm not sure about the other two."

Matthew inwardly laughed, thinking about how his dad would react to someone like Feliks. "_Our words of advice would be to never be ashamed of anything, inside or outside of you. And to keep doing exactly what you are doing. You are so important to the world, even with your mother's shaky view on the future. We are proud of everything you want to do and will do and we can only hope that you both keep getting better._" Matthew smiled and knew he couldn't read the last two lines, but he knew his brother could read it himself without saying it out loud.

_We love you both in words we can't even describe._

_Mom and Dad_

"Well, then," Alfred let out another shaky laugh, wrapping an arm around Matthew's shoulders. "How you feeling, bro?"

"You're the one crying like a baby," Matthew laughed, pushing him away. Alfred did have a few more tears than Matthew. "I wonder what Mom and Dad think about your hate sex relationship with Ivan."

"Th-they wouldn't invade my privacy like that!" Alfred's entire face turned a dark shade of red. "And it's not hate sex, Jesus Christ, Mattie! It's not even sex!"

"I'm sure," Matthew smirked.

"Yeah? How about you tell me how sex with the mutant with super strength is going?" Alfred smirked right back and Matthew turned red again.

"We haven't…" Matthew muttered.

"I'm sure," Alfred mimicked him. "God, I wish Mom and told us sooner that she could see the future, that would have been so cool to know! I could have asked her all kinds of things, like if I was gonna pass that really hard test or get into the middle school football team! Those things really stressed me out, man!"

"It was a middle school football team," Matthew rolled his eyes. "You were going to get in."

"That's not the point!" Alfred groaned and took the letter for himself, reading through some of it again. "This is so cool, though. I wonder what Mom thought of Allistor, if she had as much faith in him as you did."

"I'm sure they both trust me," Matthew sighed.

"Trust has nothing to do with it," Alfred sighed. "I was still scared shitless when I saw your run towards guns and then disappear. And then I found you completely passed out! Definitely not cool, bro!"

"Sorry?" Matthew shrugged. "It worked, though. Better than your plan, too."

"Not my plan," Alfred stuck his tongue out at him.

"You still went along with it," Matthew laughed slightly. It felt good to just joke around with his brother like this, forget about what was stressing him out. The words from his mother and father did a lot to soothe him. He had nothing to be scared of about his powers getting out of his control. And Alfred seemed a little more relaxed as well, their words doing something to him in the back of his mind. "So did you hear school will be back in session soon?"

"Are you serious?" Alfred groaned. "That's so not cool. I don't wanna go back to going to school, can't you just blow it up again?"

"I would really prefer not to, Al," Matthew laughed. "I think it's next week, so you can still hang out with Ivan 24/7 while you still have the chance."

"And you can go running to your boyfriend, too," Alfred teased right back.

"Try not to get frostbite from hanging out with him too long," Matthew smirked.

"I'm sure he really enjoys his x-ray vision around you," Alfred smirked.

"You know about his x-ray vision?" Matthew blanched slightly. He never thought about it much, more like he chose not to think about it much. How did Alfred find out, though?

"I watch news on Energy all the time," Alfred smirked. "More like watched, but still. Do you like the fact that he's looking at your ass all the time?"

"It's not all the time!" Matthew protested, his face going back to burning. "It doesn't work all the time."

"And I'm sure he doesn't tell you when it's working," Alfred teased.

"I'll be right back," Matthew sighed, turning to go into his room and pulling out his hockey stick. The apartment still felt almost foreign to him after he was gone from it for so long, but he was getting used to it again.

"Holy shit, Mattie, think before you kill someone with that thing," Alfred warned, putting the letter in front of himself as a shield.

"I've thought a lot about this," Matthew hummed happily, tossing the stick in his hands. "So, what was that you said about Gilbert?"

* * *

**Brotherly moments between Matthew and Alfred are always fun to write. And the letter. It's mostly wrapping up loose ends. Yes, I always planned for their mom to be a mutant, I didn't just put that in here just because. I've thought long and hard about it and I really like it. Anywho…there is either one or two chapters left, it will all depend on how I write the next one, but you'll find out next time, I guess!**

**Please review! It keeps me going, mans!**


	32. Epilogue

Matthew swallowed thickly, staring at the doors of the school, constantly opening and closing with reluctant students entering the building. He bit his lip and he couldn't decide whether or not to clench his fists.

"Come on, Birdie, there's nothing to be scared of," Gilbert patted his back.

"Well, you're the one with a hood on," Matthew muttered quietly.

"You want me to take it off?" Gilbert asked. "Fine, West was the one that forced me to put it on anyway." He easily flicked the hood off, though Matthew noticed a little hesitation in his hands. Almost immediately after Gilbert took the hood off, someone forcefully bumped into his back and he sighed slightly, rolling his eyes. "No one even knows it was you, they're all blaming me."

Matthew laughed nervously and turned to look back at the street. The news was all over this day, the day all of the students at this academy that was torn apart by Energy would come back. Cameras had started flashing the second Gilbert took his hood off. He waved at them with a cocky grin while the security the kids' parents paid for kept them at bay. Alfred had gone inside already while Matthew hesitated and apparently Feliciano had already dragged Ludwig inside to show him the new cafeteria.

"It's my fault, though," Matthew muttered.

"And I'm sure if anyone here knew that, they'd thank you," Gilbert smirked. "Now, come on, it's not that scary. No one even knows if you're a mutant or not, not unless you want them to know."

"And what about you?" Matthew asked as some Freshman thought it'd be funny to throw a rock at Gilbert's head, which he only slightly flinched at.

"I've fought people with guns, little kids with rocks aren't a big deal," Gilbert shrugged. "I'm not gonna force you or anything, but you were the one that was able to walk up to the door."

"Yeah," Matthew nodded numbly, staring at the door with wide eyes. He had walked all the way there. In fact, half of the walk, he wasn't nervous. The last, half, his nerves grew at a strikingly high rate. Now, though, he felt like he could hardly move, could hardly breathe. He couldn't just stare at the door of the school he nearly made fall apart.

"Just one step at a time, Birdie," Gilbert hummed and Matthew glanced at him. He remembered the words his mom and dad had said, practically mirroring what Gilbert had told him. To not be afraid of his powers. He balled his hands into tight fists and had the courage to actually step forward. Gilbert grew a wicked grin and moved ahead quickly to push open the door for him. The kids bustled around as usual, happy about their break, but depressed about the fact that they were back in school. Some had the luck to complain about a project they had due. Some were had enjoyed a great break with their friends, laughing and being able to just hang out the entire time. Matthew was almost jealous.

He stepped in slowly, ahead of Gilbert, who gripped onto Matthew's hand and gave a reassuring squeeze. Matthew bit his lip and walked, a little faster now, down the hallway. Everyone looked at them, though all of them were looking at Gilbert. Some patted his back while some looked about ready to punch him in the face. Gilbert kept his head up and that made Matthew feel a little better. He squeezed Gilbert's hand back. The bell rang above them and Matthew realized just how long he'd been procrastinating going inside.

All of the students, regardless of their opinions on Gilbert, all started to move at, more or less, the same time. Some purposefully rammed into Gilbert, who only seemed slightly annoyed at it. Matthew made a point to give them headaches. Not bad ones, just some dull throbbing. And it worked well enough for Matthew to grin slightly.

They eventually made it to their homeroom. Feliciano immediately smiled at them and wrapped them into a hug.

"I haven't seen you guys since Matteo was recovering!" Feliciano beamed at them wildly. "How did you guys get along for the rest of the break?"

"We did alright," Gilbert shrugged, guiding Matthew over to where his usual desk was, where Alfred was already lounging, glancing at Ivan, who was reading in the back of the room. It was so weird how…normal everything was. Everyone and everything was like nothing had even happened. Sure there were the few added pieces, like new projectors and new charts on the walls. But everything was the same. Same school, same people.

"You made it inside," Alfred joked as Matthew laughed slightly and sat down beside him. He was feeling a little better now, with people he knew around him. But the small peace didn't last long.

"So the freak's showing his face at school?" Mathias asked as he opened the door boisterously and Gilbert let out a heavy sigh, swiftly turning around.

"What, do you wanna kick me again?" Gilbert smirked. "You can't kick me while I'm down this time."

"It's you're fucking fault the school got destroyed," Mathias said.

"You're welcome," Gilbert bowed happily. Matthew was actually really impressed with how relaxed he was with this entire situation. "You wanna punch me or whatever? Give me your best shot, I can take any of your hits, I've taken worse."

Mathias opened his mouth to say something else, but the teacher took that moment to bust in, running late with papers scattering everywhere, which Matthew casually helped her put back together with his mind. Alfred smirked at him while Gilbert sat down behind them while Feliciano congratulated him on not letting "that bully" get to him. Mathias, evidently, didn't think getting at Gilbert was worth it and so he simply slumped in his seat, talking with a few others that were sending glares Gilbert's way.

"Why the hell should I let 'em bother me?" Gilbert leaned back casually in his chair. "I'm just more awesome than them, they don't get it."

Matthew smiled slightly as homeroom got started, the teacher going on about the new features of the school and how they should be treated with respect and all of that. Matthew felt himself deflate after a short while. Everything really was back to normal. There was nothing really to be afraid of and he could go through with his life.

* * *

Matthew couldn't stop his laughter while nearly everyone around him burst out laughing. Gilbert had finished telling a story about the one time he went with his family to a park and he met someone streaking, who turned out to be Francis. They were both about eight at the time. Arthur simply rolled his eyes while Lovino scoffed and turned back to his food and Ludwig simply shook his head..

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me," Alfred laughed.

"I wouldn't put it past the frog," Arthur rolled his eyes and Matthew noticed that he was looking through a fairly large handbook with the name "Kirkland" sprawled on it. He actually seemed kind of bored as he flipped through the pages with massive amounts of text. "He apparently has a habit of it." And they laughed again, Matthew laughing right with them. It was good to be normal every once in a while.

The entire lunch room was normal. Making jokes, laughing along. Glaring at Gilbert. A few girls giggling as they passed him by and a few courageous enough to say hello. Gilbert soaked in all of the attention, grateful for the fact that he was at the center of everything. Alfred didn't mind it, either, since he got a little of the attention as well. The second Ivan walked by, though, he was on his feet in a second before he ran forward to catch him and drag him back.

"Ah, come on, don't drag him in here!" Gilbert groaned and Ivan didn't appear very pleased, but he sat beside Alfred anyway. Lovino seemed terrified at his close vicinity and quickly moved to the other side of the table, saying something about the fact that Ludwig's potato smell was too close to him.

"I do not enjoy your company either," Ivan sighed.

"Says the coward," Gilbert scoffed and Ivan simply shrugged. "Oh, fuck, is your crazy sister going to join us, too?"

"I really hope not," Alfred muttered and Ivan glanced at him. "For my own health, man! I think she brings knives to school!"

"Don't be scared, Fredka," Ivan smirked slightly and Alfred pouted.

Matthew couldn't stop the smile on his face as he laughed. It was nice. It wasn't quite like nothing happened, just that everyone was acting…like it was returning to normal. And it was nice. Matthew didn't feel weird or abnormal or odd…

"Told ya it wasn't that bad," Gilbert snickered, leaning close to him and Matthew glared slightly at him, hitting his shoulder. "Ow, I'm in so much pain, please help," Gilbert teased.

"Shut up," Matthew rolled his eyes.

"You wanna try and make me?" Gilbert smirked. "I am the awesome Energy, no one can silence me!" Matthew simply rolled his eyes. "No one can make me shut up! Hell, even those little shits over our break couldn't make me shut up! I'm pretty much the most obnoxious person in the world!"

Matthew sighed slightly. He had a plan, but he was slightly reluctant to use it at this point, in front of so many people. But Gilbert was getting cocky and acting like he just _wanted_ Matthew to do something. So he did. He pulled Gilbert forward by his shirt and closed his lips over his. Despite his blush, it seemed to work and Gilbert smirked into the kiss.

Naturally, Antonio and Francis teased and applauded them and Matthew pulled away quickly to continue eating his lunch, hoping to act like nothing happened. But even Alfred seemed intent on embarrassing Matthew.

"Holy shit, bro, I didn't think you'd manage to do that on your own!" Alfred howled with laughter.

"Do not get ideas," Ivan muttered and Gilbert cackled from where he sat.

"I could've made you shut up a different way," Matthew muttered, thinking about his powers once again. And the smile didn't stop when he realized he really wasn't that afraid anymore. He wasn't scared…he was normal.

* * *

So what is good and what is evil? Who decides that in the first place? To some, evil is what you don't understand. However, it can be agreed on that it's good to be normal. Is it possible to be both good and evil? Is it possible that we can't define good or evil?

The one thing that we can still define, however, is a superhero. Everyone knows that a mutant can exist and it will be up to their judgment of good and evil how they choose to spend their mutant abilities. Will there always be a hero to save you for the sake of good? Maybe not. Will it only be the evil that comes into our lives? Maybe.

However.

What is good and evil? Who decides? Every single person. There's a different sense of good and evil for everyone. Whether that's decided by themselves or through other people's perceptions, good and evil are decided by everyone. So a word of advice. Don't listen to someone else's good and evil. Listen to your own. Who knows? Maybe there will be another superhero like Energy, or Matthew Williams.

* * *

**And The End! Thank you so much for following this story! Cheesy ending will always be cheesy, but I tried to do a full circle thing, I dunno I kinda like it. I spent forever on those last few paragraphs! But I'm finally done and I'm a little sad, but also a little happy. I've loved his project and those following it so much, but on the other hand, I can start my next big project, which I already have a head start on!**

**My next story is gonna be a step away from what I usually do and, as a thank you for all of you guys that followed me this far, I'll give you a preview of it! Fair warning, it's going to be a RusAme!**

"**The Trickster"  
**Quite some time ago, the royal family built a wall around the town. No one asked any questions or tried to look over the massive wall, any person that did was never seen from again. It was a very delicate balance that lasted a very long time, but a chance meeting between the new Lord Ivan and a simple peasant boy may change everything.

One day, during a festival to celebrate the wall that protected the town, they met. Lord Ivan usually never came to these things, and he was urged against it by his…advisor. Alfred Jones, on the other hand, loved celebrations like this, it always gave him a chance to practice his magic. Ivan is practically bewitched by this man he's never seen before and ignores the advice of his advisor and takes him into his custody. Naturally, Alfred rebels, but that leaves Ivan even more interested in him and his magic.

Neither knows the full depth of what either of them are messing with and the two quickly get entangled in a fight lasting hundreds of years. Alfred learns his side from a ball of light trapped in the dungeon and a group of immortals, while Ivan learns his from a story told through every generation of his family since the struggle began. Which side will they chose? The Trickster or the safety of the wall?

**I know, it seems kind of "Attack on Titan"-ish, but it's not, you can trust me.**

**Anyway, a huge thanks again to everyone that reviewed, and a special thanks to a few special reviewers! Like 15Acesplz for reviewing the most out of everyone, and Dragonfire78, Bear (a guest), A pirate's life for Bunny, Platinum (another guest), and Doodle0505! You guys all reviewed so much and everyone who reviewed helped me get through this whole story! So thank you so much and I'll see you next time around if you join me for "The Trickster"!**

**And I do not and never will own Hetalia!**


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